XCOM 2

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

Hello! I finally managed to get my internoots to download XCOM2.

Initially, I wasn't fond of it. Oddly.
Too many time limits, and I was getting my bottom kicked in every mission. Lol

Turns out I was doing it wrong.
I downloaded a mod called "true concealment" which means timers don't start until you reveal yourself. Which makes the game far more fun (IMHO), and less like a botched sprint for the objective and evacuation zone.
I also downloaded the "Loot Pinata" mod, which basically adds more loot, yay! and I downloaded a mod so you get rewarded for flawless missions.

Anyhoo, my first "playthrough", went horribly wrong. The Avatar countdown had like 2 squares left, and I hadn't figured out how to assault the first base, and my squad size was still 4. And most of my good soldiers were dead. So when I did finally assault the first base, I lost even more soldiers. Lol

So I started again.
Doing much better now, using concealment to the absolute maximum, and rangers are so awesome! And so far, I haven't messed up the campaign, although, the avatar project is at about 60%.

Anyhoo. What are your tactics for doing various objectives?

I like to set up ambushes, as much as possible, and keep my rangers concealed for as long as possible, without risking my other soldiers, and use them as scouts to find the enemy.
I used my concealed rangers to the maximum on the mission where you get shot down.
I kept them concealed and got then close enough to the spike so my snipers could take it out. Then legged it back to the ramp and I was done in a few turns. Lol

I have noticed, while trying to setup ambushes, that the enemies tend to patrol on your general direction.

On my current base assault mission, I've kept my entire squad concealed, and basically snuck around the outside of the base in a full circle, with 4 squads in tow. Lol
I've been waiting for a good time to strike, but there's now simply too many to kill. Too many of those teleporting cloning things, and sectiods, and snakemen.
If only I could designate each of my soldiers a task to perform when I got "end turn" so they can all do something simultaneously...
"Throw all the grenades!!"

Share your stories!

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

 

[lysan]

I really dislike that no matter where you hide they sort of walk strait towards you anyway, it doesn’t matter if you are hidden or not. So the AI mechanics is kind of broken in that way. However the game is awesome and I like it a lot.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Hated it. Rage quit first playthrough when the robot mission unlocked and I went in with tier 1 gear.

Installed LW2 mod and some tweaks. Played 2 consecutive playthroughs. Great experience. No rushing of the campaign. Could draw out the gameplay as long as I liked to. My personal pick for Best Game of 2017.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

I really dislike that no matter where you hide they sort of walk strait towards you anyway, it doesn’t matter if you are hidden or not. So the AI mechanics is kind of broken in that way. However the game is awesome and I like it a lot.

I was hoping they'd have some sort of RNG patrol route to follow. Which you can watch and learn from.
But no, they just walk in your direction. Lol

It is an awesome game. Just as good as the first one. The snipers aren't quite as OP as the first though. Rangers are the OP ones now. Being able to stay (or go back to) concealed for an almost guaranteed flanking manoeuvre.

I wish the hacking screen was a minigame like in Deus Ex though. The % to win chance doesn't seem right. I've failed loads of 90+% ones. Lol
That said, it is XCOM. I've missed a 98% shot before. Lol

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

I was hoping they'd have some sort of RNG patrol route to follow. Which you can watch and learn from.
But no, they just walk in your direction. Lol

It is an awesome game. Just as good as the first one. The snipers aren't quite as OP as the first though. Rangers are the OP ones now. Being able to stay (or go back to) concealed for an almost guaranteed flanking manoeuvre.

I wish the hacking screen was a minigame like in Deus Ex though. The % to win chance doesn't seem right. I've failed loads of 90+% ones. Lol
That said, it is XCOM. I've missed a 98% shot before. Lol

I'd say it's way more balanced than the first one. That was just superhypermutant spam and superfloater flanking out of nowhere. You didn't get to see any sctoids anymore after the story had progressed.

 

[Slythe]

I'm playing the 'War of the Chosen' DLC atm so I don't dislike the game at all, however it does have some annoying elements;

The RNG is crap. It's been tested (apparently) and shown that it does generate an even distribution of outcomes but it has a very annoying tendency to produce a series of particularly good or bad results in a row. Because most players don't usually attempt the difficult shots they only notice the clusters of bad results. You can't judge a RNG system by only the frequency of the outcomes but by how those outcomes are distributed over time. A tendency to produce clusters is not really desirable.

AI in the tactical game is nowhere near as interesting to play against as the original '90s XCOM games. It's all about pulling the individual patrols and avoiding unwanted aggro's. The original XCOM had none of that and managed to make hunting a single alien interesting, even if you totally outnumbered him/her/it.

 

[Ian Skippy]

I liked the more aggressive turn timers. In XCOM1 you would just 'inch-crawl' from max-cover to max-cover, but now you are forced to take the occasional gamble. But yeah, thanks to mods we each get to tailor the game to our taste.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

I'm also playing OpenXcom on my laptop (at work. Lol)

It's so much harder. But I do miss the ability to use cover.
One mission, an alien threw a grenade as my squad was leaving the skyranger on the second turn. Lol
I lost 7 people that day. But luckily, I had 3 left, and my rocket tank was having a good day, and ended up being to sole survivor of the mission. Lol
I really need to reinstall my Mortar tank mod i made for OpenXcom. It's really inaccurate, but it's great for laying down a good old fashioned bombardment when you need to.
Not recommended for terror missions though. Lol

I do like the urgency of the timers on missions in XCOM2, but I like them to not begin counting down until I reveal myself.
The mod I use actually reduces the number of turns, so if you get spotted too early, it's incredibly difficult to reach the target. And it adds to the stealthy feel some more, sneaking about, shutting down those guard post things, etc.

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

 

[askavir]

If you install the War of the Chosen expansion, you get an option to double the timers, which achieves a good balance between the inch-by-inch of the previous xcom, and the "no strategy just sprint" of the base xcom2 game. Also it adds tons of other stuff, I recommend it 100%.

Still would love to see xcom going a bit back to its roots, adding much more gameplay to the strategy layer like the original xcom. Still a blast of a game though.

 

[dannysquid]

If you install the War of the Chosen expansion, you get an option to double the timers, which achieves a good balance between the inch-by-inch of the previous xcom, and the "no strategy just sprint" of the base xcom2 game. Also it adds tons of other stuff, I recommend it 100%.

Still would love to see xcom going a bit back to its roots, adding much more gameplay to the strategy layer like the original xcom. Still a blast of a game though.

Phoenix Point is the game for you I suspect.

Personally, I think the newer XCOMs are a little less simulation-y or RPG-ish but I'd also say they're tactically quite a bit deeper than the old game. But I agree about the strategy layer, which manages to be simpler and very hard to understand at the same time!

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

The mission side of XCOM is about perfect, it would be nice to take larger squads, on larger maps, with more enemies, but other than that, gameplay wise, it's pretty much nailed it.

The world map strategy is a bit meh, in both XCOM 1&2.
I preferred building my own base(s), and selecting the exact location, etc etc, with multiple interceptors and skyrangers.

It'd be awesome if XCOM 3 went back to that.

Anyhoo, on my current playthrough I met my first Sectopod on a base raid.
They're huge. But it didn't last long.
I managed to hack it, and take control of it before it even got a shot off, then marched it in to a squad of enemies and let rip. Lol
The enemies did most of the damage to it, and when it returned to enemy control, it had no armour left, and just 6Hp, so my sniper finished it off. Lol
So I killed it, without it even detecting me. Lol


I do love XCOM.

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

 

[rootsrat]

Hello! I finally managed to get my internoots to download XCOM2.

Initially, I wasn't fond of it. Oddly.
Too many time limits, and I was getting my bottom kicked in every mission. Lol

Turns out I was doing it wrong.
I downloaded a mod called "true concealment" which means timers don't start until you reveal yourself. Which makes the game far more fun (IMHO), and less like a botched sprint for the objective and evacuation zone.
I also downloaded the "Loot Pinata" mod, which basically adds more loot, yay! and I downloaded a mod so you get rewarded for flawless missions.

True Concealment can bug out the game. I can't remember what exactly, but I'd uninstall it. Especially that as you progress through the game, you get a perk that does EXACTLY same thing.

I love this game! One of my favourite turned based tactic games ever. What they did with WOTC is insane, I am totally amazed by it. I loved the original and I know a lot people complain about XCOM and XCOM2, but to me they did an excellent job with it. It retains the atmosphere of the original, while having modern gameplay at the same time.

Some other mods I recommend for WOTC:

https://www.nexusmods.com/xcom2/mods/682
https://www.nexusmods.com/xcom2/mods/668 + https://www.nexusmods.com/xcom2/mods/203
https://www.nexusmods.com/xcom2/mods/302

I think I have a few more installed, but can't remember which ones. I'll complete the list at home.

 

[Red Anders]

Going to be getting this finally at Christmas, a mate linked me an offer of £14 for the digital deluxe edition that's valid until after the Steam Xmas sale starts so I'm just waiting to see if Steam can better it. Not able to buy many games at full price these days, although I'm sure this would actually have been worth it.

Can't see myself mucking about with any mods to add stuff and generally make it easier; I've been a massive fan of XCom since I had the original Microprose version on the Amiga (still in my all-time top 3) and getting your butt kicked hard is such an intrinsic part of the experience I'd feel cheated without it.

I've completed the 2012 version on impossible ironman, so I'm hoping I won't be weeping over the keyboard too much. I still wake up in a cold sweat thinking about the base defence mission in that playthrough, also a simple supply barge assault where one missed shot saw my five most experienced troops killed (lol xcom) and a terror mission on the map with the big warehouse near the docks where the aliens were five sectopods and their drones.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

Going to be getting this finally at Christmas, a mate linked me an offer of £14 for the digital deluxe edition that's valid until after the Steam Xmas sale starts so I'm just waiting to see if Steam can better it. Not able to buy many games at full price these days, although I'm sure this would actually have been worth it.

Can't see myself mucking about with any mods to add stuff and generally make it easier; I've been a massive fan of XCom since I had the original Microprose version on the Amiga (still in my all-time top 3) and getting your butt kicked hard is such an intrinsic part of the experience I'd feel cheated without it.

I've completed the 2012 version on impossible ironman, so I'm hoping I won't be weeping over the keyboard too much. I still wake up in a cold sweat thinking about the base defence mission in that playthrough, also a simple supply barge assault where one missed shot saw my five most experienced troops killed (lol xcom) and a terror mission on the map with the big warehouse near the docks where the aliens were five sectopods and their drones.

Without spoiling anything, all I'm going to say is, be careful what enemies you kill.
There are some extremely cool "surprises" in store.

It's an amazing game, I'm still only about half way through, I think.
Like I said earlier, I like my game to be hard, but i don't like to feel rushed too often.
There's a few too many times missions in XCOM2. But rather than remove the timer, I chose to simply keep it pauses until revealed, with an overall shorter timer.

Which is great, because if you fluff up your approach, you make life so much harder.
One mission, that I just did, had just 7 turns to make it to the objective, which was about half way across the map.

On my first turn, I accidentally walked one of my rangers a bit too close. I wasn't revealed, but the enemies walked a bit closer, still not revealing my soldiers, but, I couldn't move him without being detected.
I managed to move everyone else around to make a quick sort of ambush for the pod of enemies, so by turn 3 I was detected. And of course, 2 more pods of enemies walked within range, so I had 9 tough enemies to beat, in 7 turns. Most of them clustered around the objective I needed to hack. But I didn't have line of sight for remote hacking, and i couldn't get close.


Yeah, I failed the one. Lol

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

Looooool

I just tried playing the 2012 XCOM (for android) on Impossible Ironman.

I can't even win the first mission!
My absolutely useless team can't hit anything, and the pesky Sectiods seem to have godlike accuracy, and score critical hits even if I'm behind full cover. Lol
6 attempts, and 6 different strategies later and I've given up. Lol

I also just completed the original original (Open)XCOM (also on android), on veteran. Woop!
I ended up with about 150~ heavy plasma rifles. Which at $180,000~ each netted me almost enough money to build a big base on every continent... But I didn't bother, because of the UFO detection spam. Lol
I kinda wish there was an auto-intercept setting.

Hey ho, I still have a few more missions on XCOM2 to go I think, and I have Xenonauts to play.
Plus I got Assassin's Creed Black Flag, WatchDogs, and something else free from Uplay yesterday. I'm gonna be busy.
Well, my internoots will be first.... lol

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

 

[rootsrat]

OK, as promised, here's a list of mods I use:

Capnbubs' Accessories Pack - WotC - Adds several new customisation options designed to fit seamlessly in to the game.
XCom 2 International Voices Pack - Adds real foreign voices to appropriate soldiers.
More Nations and Names WotC - Adds more nationalities to the character pool
Nice Mission Debriefing - Nice Mission Debriefing adds extended stats and awards to the end of a mission in War of the Chosen.
Custom Bandanas - Armour Colours - Pattern - This mod adds a new 'Custom Bandana' lower face prop to soldier customisation, which utilises the soldier's primary and secondary armour colour, as well as camouflage pattern.
Ink and Paint - Adds 25 new Tattoos and 4 Face Paints to the game.
Military Camouflage Patterns - This pack contains 60 real-life camouflage patterns

None of these changes how the game is played, instead they just add lots of little things that overall make for a much better and nicer experience when playing XCOM 2: WOTC.

You can install them very easily with the Nexus Mod Manager program, it's as much as clicking "Download with the manager" button on the website and double-clicking the mod in the manager to enable it. I have a few more mods in testing, I'll report back if I find any more useful ones

Enjoy!

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

OK, as promised, here's a list of mods I use:

Capnbubs' Accessories Pack - WotC - Adds several new customisation options designed to fit seamlessly in to the game.
XCom 2 International Voices Pack - Adds real foreign voices to appropriate soldiers.
More Nations and Names WotC - Adds more nationalities to the character pool
Nice Mission Debriefing - Nice Mission Debriefing adds extended stats and awards to the end of a mission in War of the Chosen.
Custom Bandanas - Armour Colours - Pattern - This mod adds a new 'Custom Bandana' lower face prop to soldier customisation, which utilises the soldier's primary and secondary armour colour, as well as camouflage pattern.
Ink and Paint - Adds 25 new Tattoos and 4 Face Paints to the game.
Military Camouflage Patterns - This pack contains 60 real-life camouflage patterns

None of these changes how the game is played, instead they just add lots of little things that overall make for a much better and nicer experience when playing XCOM 2: WOTC.

You can install them very easily with the Nexus Mod Manager program, it's as much as clicking "Download with the manager" button on the website and double-clicking the mod in the manager to enable it. I have a few more mods in testing, I'll report back if I find any more useful ones

Enjoy!

Ooh, I've been using the lazy steam workshop route. Lol

I actually forgot the Nexus mod manager is for more than just Skyrim.

I'll look in to those mods.

I'm on what I assume is the last mission now, and well, without spoiling it, I'm in a bit of a pickle. Lol
I've used all my rockets, all my grenades, and Psi specialist has used her 1 shot domination to mind control something permanently, which just got killed (it did last a long time though), and I've just bumped in to 3 of "them"... And about 20 other enemies. Lol

I think I might need to retreat... Lol

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

I completed it!

Woot.

SPOILER ALERT
MOBILE USERS LOOK AWAY.
Ending Spoilers Ahead.



You've been warned.

Spoiler

The ending was pretty difficult. Fighting 3 Avatars at once, plus all the reinforcements was nightmarish. But I only lost 1 soldier, and that's because she was on fire, with 2Hp left, and I'd run out of medkits. Lol

The ending video though, is that hinting to a remake of Terror From The Deep?
Sure looks that way.
I never played TFTD much though.
I only played the original, and Apocalypse.
I don't even remember Apocalypse much. Except for the real time mode it had. That was fun.

In any case, I now need the War of the Chosen expansion. It looks pretty good, and is apparently massive.

Once I've got the expansion, I'm going to try the game in Commander difficulty.

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead