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XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Not the shooter) -- Out Now. Use New Thread.

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Posts

  • ComradebotComradebot Lord of Dinosaurs Houston, TXRegistered User regular
    When, I was a boy, I save scummed like a madman. Now? Now I a MAN.

    And that's why I'm playing on Classic Ironman the moment I boot this up.

  • DockenDocken Registered User regular
    Dragkonias wrote: »
    So...I'm confused.

    This is an RTS and Turn-Based Strategy game at the same time?

    Do you take turns playing each or something?

    Think Empirre:Total War, but the battle scape is turned based rather than real time.

  • MegaMekMegaMek Girls like girls. Registered User regular
    It's not an rts.

    Is time a gift or punishment?
  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    Dragkonias wrote: »
    Dragkonias wrote: »
    So...I'm confused.

    This is an RTS and Turn-Based Strategy game at the same time?

    Do you take turns playing each or something?
    Uh? No? Who said RTS?

  • BonepartBonepart Registered User regular
    Just under 24 hours now (for those of us in the US)!

    XBL Gamertag: Ipori
  • jclastjclast Registered User regular
    There is nothing real-time about it. It's TBS combat and (the closest analog I can think of) Civilization-esque decisions to be made regarding base management.

    camo_sig2.png
  • DragkoniasDragkonias That Guy Who Does Stuff You Know, There. Registered User regular
    Dragkonias wrote: »
    Dragkonias wrote: »
    So...I'm confused.

    This is an RTS and Turn-Based Strategy game at the same time?

    Do you take turns playing each or something?
    Uh? No? Who said RTS?

    I was reading the OP and it said that one part was real-time while the other was turn-based.
    Because of <reasons> I'm not familiar with 20 year old strategy games. What was XCOM, and why is this a big deal?
    In 1994, Microprose released the original XCOM: UFO Defense. This game mixed real-time strategy with turn-based strategy. The RTS part, called the Geoscape, took place on a global scale. You started with one base (with the ability to build more) somewhere on the planet. You had to manage your resources, which included buying or manufacturing weapons, ammo, armor, outfitting your air force and troops, and directing research and manufacturing focuses. The money for all of this (including paying everybody's salary) could come from selling your supplies or manufactured goods, but mainly from the funding council of countries. If a country was happy with your performance, you'd receive more money from them the next month. If they were displeased (or infiltrated by the aliens) they would cut off their funding.

  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    That's talking about the original X-COM, which was indeed real time on the geoscape.

  • RetabaRetaba A Cultist Registered User regular
    Not sure if it had been discussed, but is there a point to keeping more than 1 alien corpse now? The videos I've seen has shown people keeping them and not selling them off, some sort of bonus for researching them more and more?

  • SniperGuySniperGuy SniperGuyGaming Registered User regular
    What, this geoscape isn't realtime?

  • Last SonLast Son Registered User regular
    Retaba wrote: »
    Not sure if it had been discussed, but is there a point to keeping more than 1 alien corpse now? The videos I've seen has shown people keeping them and not selling them off, some sort of bonus for researching them more and more?

    Research spoilers
    You require more than 1 corpse to perform an autopsy now. You can also use the corpses to manufacture some items that give a temporary bonus to your interceptors.

  • BYToadyBYToady Registered User regular
    Hah, the achi
    SniperGuy wrote: »
    What, this geoscape isn't realtime?

    It is realtime, the 'scan for activity' button just speeds it up massively.

    Battletag BYToady#1454
  • GoumindongGoumindong Registered User regular
    edited October 2012
    Dragkonias wrote: »
    So...I'm confused.

    This is an RTS and Turn-Based Strategy game at the same time?

    Do you take turns playing each or something?
    @Dragkonias

    The short answer is this: Its an X-Com game.

    This is a turn based "tactical game" nested inside a real time "strategy game"

    The big picture is the strategy portion. The goal of the strategy portion is to(spoiler alert) protect the earth from aliens. This will encompass managing radar coverage, income, research, production, the finicky demands of the various nations that fund you, and of course dealing with the actual aliens. The method in which this happens is very reminiscent of a management game rather than an RTS. In a normal strategy game you're more time limited. In x-com you're space and resource limited. You're doing well if you have lots of money, big guns, and everyone loves you.

    When you decide to fight the aliens(you don't have to every time) you will be sending out a group of soldiers equipped with the stuff you researched/produced. This combat is resolved via a tactical turn based combat section. Your units and resources in this section are static, being determined at the outset by what you decided to send in the strategic portion. You're doing well in this section if all the humans are alive and all the aliens are dead. The success or failure in this section carries over and has consequences in the strategic section. Injured units will stay injured until they recover, dead units are dead, captured aliens can be interrogated, dead civilians yield reduced funding, etc.

    When combat is finished its right back to the strategic layer, because a victory is only one, and it takes more than a few bullets to win the war.

    Goumindong on
    wbBv3fj.png
  • President RexPresident Rex Registered User regular
    I never really understood the "if you choose to fight the aliens." There doesn't seem like a good reason not to fight them in this one, unless you don't have enough guys for a full squad. If you don't fight them panic/terror goes up anyway, so you only lose more.

    ...In the original you could decide you didn't want to fight them because it would lead them to your base in some cases. Or if you lost excessive numbers of civilians and x-com operatives in a terror mission you could make your score effectively worse (don't think it was worse than not responding to a terror mission, though).

    So "You could do this mission or chooise to ignore!" Seems like a false choice to me, unless I am missing something.

  • DragkoniasDragkonias That Guy Who Does Stuff You Know, There. Registered User regular
    Goumindong wrote: »
    Dragkonias wrote: »
    So...I'm confused.

    This is an RTS and Turn-Based Strategy game at the same time?

    Do you take turns playing each or something?
    @Dragkonias

    The short answer is this: Its an X-Com game.

    This is a turn based "tactical game" nested inside a real time "strategy game"

    The big picture is the strategy portion. The goal of the strategy portion is to(spoiler alert) protect the earth from aliens. This will encompass managing radar coverage, income, research, production, the finicky demands of the various nations that fund you, and of course dealing with the actual aliens. The method in which this happens is very reminiscent of a management game rather than an RTS. In a normal strategy game you're more time limited. In x-com you're space and resource limited. You're doing well if you have lots of money, big guns, and everyone loves you.

    When you decide to fight the aliens(you don't have to every time) you will be sending out a group of soldiers equipped with the stuff you researched/produced. This combat is resolved via a tactical turn based combat section. Your units and resources in this section are static, being determined at the outset by what you decided to send in the strategic portion. You're doing well in this section if all the humans are alive and all the aliens are dead. The success or failure in this section carries over and has consequences in the strategic section. Injured units will stay injured until they recover, dead units are dead, captured aliens can be interrogated, dead civilians yield reduced funding, etc.

    When combat is finished its right back to the strategic layer, because a victory is only one, and it takes more than a few bullets to win the war.

    So basically, what you're saying is that the "RTS" portion is more like that NationStates online game where you make the decisions and how well you're doing depends on how good the decisions you made were(along with how well you're doing in the turn-based combat portion)?

  • Gandalf_the_CrazedGandalf_the_Crazed Vigilo ConfidoRegistered User regular
    I never really understood the "if you choose to fight the aliens." There doesn't seem like a good reason not to fight them in this one, unless you don't have enough guys for a full squad. If you don't fight them panic/terror goes up anyway, so you only lose more.

    ...In the original you could decide you didn't want to fight them because it would lead them to your base in some cases. Or if you lost excessive numbers of civilians and x-com operatives in a terror mission you could make your score effectively worse (don't think it was worse than not responding to a terror mission, though).

    So "You could do this mission or chooise to ignore!" Seems like a false choice to me, unless I am missing something.

    That's for when you want to ignore Canada, because fuck Canada.

    PEUsig_zps56da03ec.jpg
  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    Dragkonias wrote: »
    Dragkonias wrote: »
    Goumindong wrote: »
    Dragkonias wrote: »
    So...I'm confused.

    This is an RTS and Turn-Based Strategy game at the same time?

    Do you take turns playing each or something?
    @Dragkonias

    The short answer is this: Its an X-Com game.

    This is a turn based "tactical game" nested inside a real time "strategy game"

    The big picture is the strategy portion. The goal of the strategy portion is to(spoiler alert) protect the earth from aliens. This will encompass managing radar coverage, income, research, production, the finicky demands of the various nations that fund you, and of course dealing with the actual aliens. The method in which this happens is very reminiscent of a management game rather than an RTS. In a normal strategy game you're more time limited. In x-com you're space and resource limited. You're doing well if you have lots of money, big guns, and everyone loves you.

    When you decide to fight the aliens(you don't have to every time) you will be sending out a group of soldiers equipped with the stuff you researched/produced. This combat is resolved via a tactical turn based combat section. Your units and resources in this section are static, being determined at the outset by what you decided to send in the strategic portion. You're doing well in this section if all the humans are alive and all the aliens are dead. The success or failure in this section carries over and has consequences in the strategic section. Injured units will stay injured until they recover, dead units are dead, captured aliens can be interrogated, dead civilians yield reduced funding, etc.

    When combat is finished its right back to the strategic layer, because a victory is only one, and it takes more than a few bullets to win the war.

    So basically, what you're saying is that the "RTS" portion is more like that NationStates online game where you make the decisions and how well you're doing depends on how good the decisions you made were(along with how well you're doing in the turn-based combat portion)?
    Yes. Although I have never heard of t his NationStates game you are referring to.

  • DragkoniasDragkonias That Guy Who Does Stuff You Know, There. Registered User regular
    Dragkonias wrote: »
    Dragkonias wrote: »
    Goumindong wrote: »
    Dragkonias wrote: »
    So...I'm confused.

    This is an RTS and Turn-Based Strategy game at the same time?

    Do you take turns playing each or something?
    @Dragkonias

    The short answer is this: Its an X-Com game.

    This is a turn based "tactical game" nested inside a real time "strategy game"

    The big picture is the strategy portion. The goal of the strategy portion is to(spoiler alert) protect the earth from aliens. This will encompass managing radar coverage, income, research, production, the finicky demands of the various nations that fund you, and of course dealing with the actual aliens. The method in which this happens is very reminiscent of a management game rather than an RTS. In a normal strategy game you're more time limited. In x-com you're space and resource limited. You're doing well if you have lots of money, big guns, and everyone loves you.

    When you decide to fight the aliens(you don't have to every time) you will be sending out a group of soldiers equipped with the stuff you researched/produced. This combat is resolved via a tactical turn based combat section. Your units and resources in this section are static, being determined at the outset by what you decided to send in the strategic portion. You're doing well in this section if all the humans are alive and all the aliens are dead. The success or failure in this section carries over and has consequences in the strategic section. Injured units will stay injured until they recover, dead units are dead, captured aliens can be interrogated, dead civilians yield reduced funding, etc.

    When combat is finished its right back to the strategic layer, because a victory is only one, and it takes more than a few bullets to win the war.

    So basically, what you're saying is that the "RTS" portion is more like that NationStates online game where you make the decisions and how well you're doing depends on how good the decisions you made were(along with how well you're doing in the turn-based combat portion)?
    Yes. Although I have never heard of t his NationStates game you are referring to.

    Oh that's probably because its not a video game. Rather a text-based nation simulation game that I used to play when I was younger.

    Gist of it is you make your own fictional nation then you make decisions and the outlook of your nation changes...etc.

  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    Ok so I found out that my rush to laser cannons strategy
    A. Works pretty well
    B. Is incredibly fucking boring

  • Gandalf_the_CrazedGandalf_the_Crazed Vigilo ConfidoRegistered User regular
    There is a significant portion of my brain that still can't believe this is happening. Like I'm going to wake up in the morning, and there won't be an XCOM remake coming out or in development or anything. And I'll remember the Thin Men, and ask myself why I came up with those, they weren't in the old game, I should have known it was a dream.

    23 hours and 35 minutes.

    PEUsig_zps56da03ec.jpg
  • cpugeek13cpugeek13 Registered User regular
    Do anyone know when the press embargo is lifted on this game? I thought it was Monday, but no one seems to have put any reviews up yet.

  • chiasaur11chiasaur11 Never doubt a raccoon. Do you think it's trademarked?Registered User regular
    There is a significant portion of my brain that still can't believe this is happening. Like I'm going to wake up in the morning, and there won't be an XCOM remake coming out or in development or anything. And I'll remember the Thin Men, and ask myself why I came up with those, they weren't in the old game, I should have known it was a dream.

    23 hours and 35 minutes.

    You'll remember them...

    because they're real.

  • CorpekataCorpekata Registered User regular
    cpugeek13 wrote: »
    Do anyone know when the press embargo is lifted on this game? I thought it was Monday, but no one seems to have put any reviews up yet.

    Last I heard it was 5 am PST, so 6 and a half hours.

  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    Tube wrote: »
    Ok so I found out that my rush to laser cannons strategy
    A. Works pretty well
    B. Is incredibly fucking boring
    Some things work for a while and then eventually they don't.

  • Ninja Snarl PNinja Snarl P My helmet is my burden. Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered User regular
    Tube wrote: »
    Tube wrote: »
    Ok so I found out that my rush to laser cannons strategy
    A. Works pretty well
    B. Is incredibly fucking boring

    Which is a large part of why I'm quite happy that large-scale manufacturing is not A Thing in the new one. Manufacturing those laser cannons in the original is a good way to make money, but holy shit is it tedious to deal with all that building workspace/hiring engineers/assigning manufacturing/selling everything. It's the kind of micromanagement I detest to the utmost.

  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    edited October 2012
    Tube wrote: »
    Ok so I found out that my rush to laser cannons strategy
    A. Works pretty well
    B. Is incredibly fucking boring

    Which is a large part of why I'm quite happy that large-scale manufacturing is not A Thing in the new one. Manufacturing those laser cannons in the original is a good way to make money, but holy shit is it tedious to deal with all that building workspace/hiring engineers/assigning manufacturing/selling everything. It's the kind of micromanagement I detest to the utmost.[/quote]
    If you install XComUtil or UFO Extender (can't remember which) you can just set your guys to automanufacture/autosell laser cannons.

    I guess I should hurry up with my X-COM tutorial videos so that everyone who has these issues can get them sorted out.

    TychoCelchuuu on
  • GoumindongGoumindong Registered User regular
    Dragkonias wrote: »
    So basically, what you're saying is that the "RTS" portion is more like that NationStates online game where you make the decisions and how well you're doing depends on how good the decisions you made were(along with how well you're doing in the turn-based combat portion)?

    Kind of. A better way to think of it would be similar to the empire management portion of 4x games if you reduced it down to one planet/city and removed the explore and expand aspects and remove enemy "players". Rather than playing against a number of AI enemies that each have the same goals as the player, you're playing against a single enemy whose machinations you may not understand.

    So it might make sense to think of the strategy portion to be a "strategy RPG" with the aliens as the "bad guys" rather than "another player"

    wbBv3fj.png
  • Ninja Snarl PNinja Snarl P My helmet is my burden. Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered User regular
    edited October 2012
    Tube wrote: »
    Ok so I found out that my rush to laser cannons strategy
    A. Works pretty well
    B. Is incredibly fucking boring

    Which is a large part of why I'm quite happy that large-scale manufacturing is not A Thing in the new one. Manufacturing those laser cannons in the original is a good way to make money, but holy shit is it tedious to deal with all that building workspace/hiring engineers/assigning manufacturing/selling everything. It's the kind of micromanagement I detest to the utmost.
    If you install XComUtil or UFO Extender (can't remember which) you can just set your guys to automanufacture/autosell laser cannons.

    I guess I should hurry up with my X-COM tutorial videos so that everyone who has these issues can get them sorted out.

    Meh. I've had my time with XCOM. It's fun, but it's freakin' old and has a lot more issues than that. I could recommend the old one to somebody to see how advanced it was for 20 years ago or whatever, but the new one is going to have to be pretty bad for me to not suggest that over the old one to anybody I meet. Old XCOM is good, but also horribly crippled by a lot of things.

    Ninja Snarl P on
  • Gandalf_the_CrazedGandalf_the_Crazed Vigilo ConfidoRegistered User regular
    Tube wrote: »
    Ok so I found out that my rush to laser cannons strategy
    A. Works pretty well
    B. Is incredibly fucking boring

    Which is a large part of why I'm quite happy that large-scale manufacturing is not A Thing in the new one. Manufacturing those laser cannons in the original is a good way to make money, but holy shit is it tedious to deal with all that building workspace/hiring engineers/assigning manufacturing/selling everything. It's the kind of micromanagement I detest to the utmost.
    If you install XComUtil or UFO Extender (can't remember which) you can just set your guys to automanufacture/autosell laser cannons.

    I guess I should hurry up with my X-COM tutorial videos so that everyone who has these issues can get them sorted out.

    Meh. I've had my time with XCOM. It's fun, but it's freakin' old and has a lot more issues than that. I could recommend the old one to somebody to see how advanced it was for 20 years ago or whatever, but the new one is going to have to be pretty bad for me to not suggest that over the old one to anybody I meet. Old XCOM is good, but also horribly crippled by a lot of things.

    Honestly the one thing I don't think the remake will copy/improve upon is the aspect of, "It's quiet....too quiet."

    Like you're on a night-time terror mission, and it's been 6 turns since you've even seen an alien. It quickly becomes unbearable in the best sort of way.

    I don't think this one will have that, based on the map sizes/mechanics. But all in all, I'm OK with that.

    PEUsig_zps56da03ec.jpg
  • JintorJintor Registered User regular
    I'm flashing back to crawling around a medium scout with two guys left and flipping the fuck out at every little sound

    they were on the roof, the bastards

    they were on the roof

  • jclastjclast Registered User regular
    I can see ignoring a mission in the new game in at least one situation. A nation, let's say Canada, is all panicky and dumb and probably going to withdraw from the council soon. A terror mission rated difficult pops up, and you know the odds of you winning it are slim. I would rather ignore it than lose the caliber of units needed to give it my best shot because my choices with made-up-right-now percentages are 90/10 against. Canada is leaving anyway (most likely), and if I ignore the mission, Capt forumer gets to fight a mission we might win.

    camo_sig2.png
  • shalmeloshalmelo sees no evil Registered User regular
    ITT everybody's hypothetical scenario involves leaving Canada to fend for itself.

    :^:

    Steam ID: Shalmelo || LoL: melo2boogaloo || tweets
  • SniperGuySniperGuy SniperGuyGaming Registered User regular
    edited October 2012
    You know what would be cool?
    Make an alternative campaign of you controlling the aliens and invading earth. That'd be neat.

    Also, I have 2 days of work. I work till close tomorrow, get home just in time to have this come out. I have food, mountain dew, will be grabbing some red bulls. THERE WILL BE NO SLEEP. I MUST SAVE THE WORLD.

    SniperGuy on
  • InkSplatInkSplat 100%ed Bad Rats. Registered User regular
    edited October 2012
    shalmelo wrote: »
    ITT everybody's hypothetical scenario involves leaving Canada to fend for itself.

    :^:

    They're not even a real country anyway.

    InkSplat on
    Origin for Dragon Age: Inquisition Shenanigans: Inksplat776
  • DockenDocken Registered User regular
    Aliens invading over the border?

    Blame Canada.

  • DehumanizedDehumanized Registered User regular
    hey, space/time

    fuck you for making me wait through all these next 22 hours

    in a row

  • Ninja Snarl PNinja Snarl P My helmet is my burden. Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered User regular
    Honestly the one thing I don't think the remake will copy/improve upon is the aspect of, "It's quiet....too quiet."

    Like you're on a night-time terror mission, and it's been 6 turns since you've even seen an alien. It quickly becomes unbearable in the best sort of way.

    I don't think this one will have that, based on the map sizes/mechanics. But all in all, I'm OK with that.

    Actually, I think there might be a fair chance of this, though I don't think we'll situations where you can go 6 turns without seeing an alien even when looking for them (at least not very often). A couple of those multiplayer maps I've seen are very large, and two players specifically looking for one another took 2-3 turns to actually find each other. With aliens, I could easily see a cautious player going multiple turns without seeing an enemy.

    Heck, the one time I played the demo, I think I went 3 turns without seeing the enemy on the one mission you actually really play. There was definite tension there, as I was sending a lone guy far out on a flank to make sure we were clear while slowly and surely moving the rest up without having any idea what was ahead of me.

    Though that tension angle will necessarily be reduced somewhat because of the simple fact that it's enormously easier and faster to move units and finish turns now. Moving 6-8 guys in the original XCOM could take 5-10 minutes just because of making sure all the right buttons are getting pressed; now it's entirely reasonable to do that same movement in 60-90 seconds.

  • InkSplatInkSplat 100%ed Bad Rats. Registered User regular
    hey, space/time

    fuck you for making me wait through all these next 22 hours

    in a row

    Don't make Space/Time pull out some Groundhog Day on you. :P

    Origin for Dragon Age: Inquisition Shenanigans: Inksplat776
  • Ninja Snarl PNinja Snarl P My helmet is my burden. Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered User regular
    InkSplat wrote: »
    InkSplat wrote: »
    hey, space/time

    fuck you for making me wait through all these next 22 hours

    in a row

    Don't make Space/Time pull out some Groundhog Day on you. :P
    Nothing but endless years of getting through the whole day, seeing that unlock timer count down to midnight, then BAM, you get to do it all over again!

  • DehumanizedDehumanized Registered User regular
    after about 1 day of getting groundhogged I'd be killing myself way more than bill murray ever did in the movie

This discussion has been closed.