Long term strategic or tactical errors on my part (longer than 1 turn) are beyond salvaging. Bugs are never that long.
Sometimes I might exploit it because I ran into something I've never encountered before, sure. I'm not perfect. But for the most part I'm stuck with what I got and have to fix it as I go.
I enjoy that.
I screwed up the strategy layer over the course of a month in my current game, but it isn't something I can't fix if I play carefully from now on. So I'm going to push through. In Normal I would have just reloaded to a previous save.
I get the best of both worlds.
I think a few of you guys get too angry when things go wrong to play ironman. You've all got min max personalities, it seeps off yas. :P
I'm pretty tolerant.
This isn't to say that the game doesn't have bugs. I just like ironman for how it structures my play. And you can get around the bugs.
If you couldn't do that at least I wouldn't play it either.
My frustration bubbles-out during XCOM missions when bugs dick me over for a couple of reasons:
- Any given mission, for me, is usually a significant time sink. Sometimes I spend literally ten minutes debating with myself about what I should do, what options are or aren't on the table, what my fallback plans are if things go south, etc. This is probably the most fun part of the game for me.
- The biggest pay-off for me in a game like XCOM is seeing whether or not a plan succeeds. Even if some random factor rather than strictly poor or excellent planning is what determines the outcome (random good or bad crit, pod activation, etc), watching how my decisions play out on the aliens' turn is a Big Deal to me.
So, a bug then crops-up and says, "Hi! You're planning doesn't even matter, because the environment on your screen doesn't even mesh with the collision / LoS maths working behind the scenes. Have fun just watching random bullshit happen!" it just defeats the entire experience I was trying to have.
With Love and Courage
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
I get ya.
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
question, when something happens on the world map can you ignore it for a bit or do you have to do it right away? Every now and then I'm like a day away from a new tech that i would love to use.
Also it seems there are so many countries, and it takes forever to build the satalite rooms and satalites themselves that even on the lower difficulties how do you not lose a country?
I'm a complete newb to x com by the way. The Mechs are awesome though.
question, when something happens on the world map can you ignore it for a bit or do you have to do it right away? Every now and then I'm like a day away from a new tech that i would love to use.
Also it seems there are so many countries, and it takes forever to build the satalite rooms and satalites themselves that even on the lower difficulties how do you not lose a country?
I'm a complete newb to x com by the way. The Mechs are awesome though.
Depends on the mission. Crashed UFOs go longest, terror's shorter. Usually they only last a few hours, so unless it's RIGHT about to hit, you probably shouldn't wait.
And it's tricky to juggle all the countries, don't always manage it on classic, but that's why they leave you a 7 nation buffer.
So I found the Exalt base in my long war game. Fittingly to modern geopolitics it is in Russia. And is am so glad I'm save scumming because 7 times I've tried to hit it right now it is completely unassailable. Laser weapons are just not doing enough damage to let me kill Exalt before laser snipers and alien grenade wipe all my cover. Not to mention the 1 in the zone sniper who murdered my entire team in back to back flank shots on the roof top in one attempt.
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
Goddamn I love Mec Punches. Especially against exhalted when their communications are scrambled. Saunter up to that guy with the bazooka and BAM, right through the wall. Works pretty well against cyber discs too, though I am playing on easy.
How long can I let the base assault mission sit? All I have to do is build the skeleton key, but I'd like to get some more research and satellites in the air first.
So I only have EU, and I'm trying to use the PA names. Is there a way to use the up to date spreadsheet that doesn't involve typing the whole .ini from scratch?
Goddamn I love Mec Punches. Especially against exhalted when their communications are scrambled. Saunter up to that guy with the bazooka and BAM, right through the wall. Works pretty well against cyber discs too, though I am playing on easy.
How long can I let the base assault mission sit? All I have to do is build the skeleton key, but I'd like to get some more research and satellites in the air first.
There is no time-out for the base assault. I like to wait until I am about to lose countries to panic, as completing the assault gives you an across-the-board panic reduction.
That said, if you wait too long, you have to deal with
some serious heavy hitters when the xenos attack your base a couple weeks later.
Though I have never played on easy, so I'm not sure how true that stands in your case.
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
Man, upgrading the MECs costs serious meld! I'm only running two of them and they pretty much sucked up my entire supply just to get to level 2.
Goddamn I love Mec Punches. Especially against exhalted when their communications are scrambled. Saunter up to that guy with the bazooka and BAM, right through the wall. Works pretty well against cyber discs too, though I am playing on easy.
How long can I let the base assault mission sit? All I have to do is build the skeleton key, but I'd like to get some more research and satellites in the air first.
There is no time-out for the base assault. I like to wait until I am about to lose countries to panic, as completing the assault gives you an across-the-board panic reduction.
That said, if you wait too long, you have to deal with
some serious heavy hitters when the xenos attack your base a couple weeks later.
Though I have never played on easy, so I'm not sure how true that stands in your case.
Easy only upgrades enemies when you do plot missions. No time based improvements to 'em.
DuriniaEvolved from Space PotatoesRegistered Userregular
edited November 2014
So, after beating Civ:BE again (wow, way easier than Civ V), I decided I'd pick up XCOM:EW again last night after a few months of not playing it. I/I Difficulty with a few second waves (not created equal, etc.) for variety. Here's what happened:
Game 1: First mission - Hey yeah, I probably shouldn't have split my squad that way. TPK
Game 2: First mission - whoops, too aggressive. TPK
Game 3: First mission - slogged it out and some hero got 7 kills and lost one soldier. Second mission? Subway Station + Clown Car spawns. TPK
Game 4: First mission - aced it with no wounds. Second mission? It's like raaa-eee-aaaaiiiin...on Murder Streeeet. TPK. Guess it's time for bed. :bigfrown:
Yeah, maybe should have gone back to Classic until I remember how to play...
Durinia on
For business reasons, I must preserve the outward sign of sanity.
--Mark Twain
Meanwhile in my cowardly "welp looks like I'm gonna lose a county I GUESS I SHOULD START OVER" escapades, I've thrown on Not Created Equal and Hidden Potential as well. It's nice to have rookies that can frikking shoot.
(also I may have started the game over several times until I got a starting squad that was above average)
Meanwhile in my cowardly "welp looks like I'm gonna lose a county I GUESS I SHOULD START OVER" escapades, I've thrown on Not Created Equal and Hidden Potential as well. It's nice to have rookies that can frikking shoot.
(also I may have started the game over several times until I got a starting squad that was above average)
I never start a game without those and Training Roulette. Usually New Economy, too, just to change up the world map some.
Aaaaaand researched light plasma rifles, and then the next mission I captured the outsider and a Muton with a plasma rifle, and then I misclicked and skipped some abductions and a bunch of nations panicked so I had to reload to before any of the stuff in the last two post happened
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webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
Is the plasma stuff useful? I've just kept with my laser weapons.
The alloy cannon can kill almost everything in the game in one round of fire, if you're lucky with crits.
Shotgun rapid fire is a thing of beauty.
I feel like the Alloy Cannon would be even better if it could bisect enemies.
Like, no change to the mechanics, but when you kill an enemy with a super-flechette-rail-shotgun, I feel like it should blow things in half.
The alloy cannon can kill almost everything in the game in one round of fire, if you're lucky with crits.
Shotgun rapid fire is a thing of beauty.
I feel like the Alloy Cannon would be even better if it could bisect enemies.
Like, no change to the mechanics, but when you kill an enemy with a super-flechette-rail-shotgun, I feel like it should blow things in half.
Fallout 2 had this amazing graphic for a gauss rifle critical kill where you blew an 18-inch hole in the abdomen/chest area of a person, and the corpse just crumpled. Combined with the noise the gun made, it was the most deeply satisfying kill animation I think I've ever seen.
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
The alloy cannon can kill almost everything in the game in one round of fire, if you're lucky with crits.
Shotgun rapid fire is a thing of beauty.
I feel like the Alloy Cannon would be even better if it could bisect enemies.
Like, no change to the mechanics, but when you kill an enemy with a super-flechette-rail-shotgun, I feel like it should blow things in half.
Fallout 2 had this amazing graphic for a gauss rifle critical kill where you blew an 18-inch hole in the abdomen/chest area of a person, and the corpse just crumpled. Combined with the noise the gun made, it was the most deeply satisfying kill animation I think I've ever seen.
That is amazing and on the same level as mechwarrior's "fusion reactors explode because it's cool".
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
The alloy cannon can kill almost everything in the game in one round of fire, if you're lucky with crits.
Shotgun rapid fire is a thing of beauty.
I feel like the Alloy Cannon would be even better if it could bisect enemies.
Like, no change to the mechanics, but when you kill an enemy with a super-flechette-rail-shotgun, I feel like it should blow things in half.
Fallout 2 had this amazing graphic for a gauss rifle critical kill where you blew an 18-inch hole in the abdomen/chest area of a person, and the corpse just crumpled. Combined with the noise the gun made, it was the most deeply satisfying kill animation I think I've ever seen.
That is amazing and on the same level as mechwarrior's "fusion reactors explode because it's cool".
They don't explode, it's a obviously a stream pressure bomb from breaching the reactor wall and flooding it with water!
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
The alloy cannon can kill almost everything in the game in one round of fire, if you're lucky with crits.
Shotgun rapid fire is a thing of beauty.
I feel like the Alloy Cannon would be even better if it could bisect enemies.
Like, no change to the mechanics, but when you kill an enemy with a super-flechette-rail-shotgun, I feel like it should blow things in half.
Fallout 2 had this amazing graphic for a gauss rifle critical kill where you blew an 18-inch hole in the abdomen/chest area of a person, and the corpse just crumpled. Combined with the noise the gun made, it was the most deeply satisfying kill animation I think I've ever seen.
That is amazing and on the same level as mechwarrior's "fusion reactors explode because it's cool".
They don't explode, it's a obviously a stream pressure bomb from breaching the reactor wall and flooding it with water!
That's a direct quote from a dev
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
The alloy cannon can kill almost everything in the game in one round of fire, if you're lucky with crits.
Shotgun rapid fire is a thing of beauty.
I feel like the Alloy Cannon would be even better if it could bisect enemies.
Like, no change to the mechanics, but when you kill an enemy with a super-flechette-rail-shotgun, I feel like it should blow things in half.
Fallout 2 had this amazing graphic for a gauss rifle critical kill where you blew an 18-inch hole in the abdomen/chest area of a person, and the corpse just crumpled. Combined with the noise the gun made, it was the most deeply satisfying kill animation I think I've ever seen.
To be fair, that was the general critical kill animation for ballistic weapon not on burst fire. The same thing would happen on a critical kill from a BB gun. Pretty sure it happened if you critically punched someone to death too.
The alloy cannon can kill almost everything in the game in one round of fire, if you're lucky with crits.
Shotgun rapid fire is a thing of beauty.
I feel like the Alloy Cannon would be even better if it could bisect enemies.
Like, no change to the mechanics, but when you kill an enemy with a super-flechette-rail-shotgun, I feel like it should blow things in half.
Fallout 2 had this amazing graphic for a gauss rifle critical kill where you blew an 18-inch hole in the abdomen/chest area of a person, and the corpse just crumpled. Combined with the noise the gun made, it was the most deeply satisfying kill animation I think I've ever seen.
To be fair, that was the general critical kill animation for ballistic weapon not on burst fire. The same thing would happen on a critical kill from a BB gun. Pretty sure it happened if you critically punched someone to death too.
Omae wa mō shindeiru.
(Back to X-Com, I love how Rapid Fire is one of the few skills that's a straight upgrade over just shooting... if you're always shoving a shotgun right in some alien's face. It's the game encouraging what I always want to do anyway.)
Close quarters is the best skill though. The one that lets you shoot for free if they're within 4 tiles. You walk up shoot something in the face then retreat behind cover on two moves. It is my single most used skill in the game.
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chiasaur11Never doubt a raccoon.Do you think it's trademarked?Registered Userregular
Close quarters is the best skill though. The one that lets you shoot for free if they're within 4 tiles. You walk up shoot something in the face then retreat behind cover on two moves. It is my single most used skill in the game.
On the other hand, it's up against lightning reflexes. AKA: Overwatching aliens can just eat a dick.
I tend to regret it when I don't have something to break overwatch. Don't get me wrong, EW Close Quarters is pretty great. But it's a tough call.
Close quarters is the best skill though. The one that lets you shoot for free if they're within 4 tiles. You walk up shoot something in the face then retreat behind cover on two moves. It is my single most used skill in the game.
On the other hand, it's up against lightning reflexes. AKA: Overwatching aliens can just eat a dick.
I tend to regret it when I don't have something to break overwatch. Don't get me wrong, EW Close Quarters is pretty great. But it's a tough call.
Yeah. They're both great skills, but I would probably be screwed without lightning reflexes. Just being able to run through a hail of muton fire, right up into it's face with no worry, then ABR is such a godsend that I just cannot choose close quarters over it. But it IS a tough choice.
M A G I K A Z A M
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
One assault gets lightning reflexes. The other gets close quarters.
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
I go for two with Lightning Reflexes. Needing to pop two overwatches on the same turn comes up often enough for it to be worth it.
Speaking of which, what's everyone's usual squad composition? I go for one sniper, one support, two assaults, and two heavies.
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
I go for two with Lightning Reflexes. Needing to pop two overwatches on the same turn comes up often enough for it to be worth it.
Speaking of which, what's everyone's usual squad composition? I go for one sniper, one support, two assaults, and two heavies.
It never does for me.
I don't think I have ever had that happen or needed to do that.
So I can't actually imagine what kind of shit you must getting yourself into. :P
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
I go for two with Lightning Reflexes. Needing to pop two overwatches on the same turn comes up often enough for it to be worth it.
Speaking of which, what's everyone's usual squad composition? I go for one sniper, one support, two assaults, and two heavies.
Usually two assaults, one heavy, one support, one sniper, and then "okay, who's not going to be crap for this level of ship/mission and isn't horribly wounded?"
Assault, heavy/SHIV, support, MEC(heavy), assault, MEC(Sniper) is my ideal non LW set. The Sniper you MEC at max rank (so he retains his aim bonus) and keep as a sniper otherwise.
You can replace your heavy with a SHIV if you have shiv suppression. Normal shivs should not be used because they're hard to make early (and don't have suppression until the foundry upgrade anyway) but are decent. Alloy shivs and hover shivs both have unique attributes which make them valuable but hover shivs are probably more valuable on the whole because they have 40 total def while flying making it super hard for them to be hit on reaction shots. (Basically if you dash a hover shiv that is flying the enemy has to have 92 aim in order to have a 1% hit chance). But the ability to create cover anywhere is. It to be underestimated.
Two snipers, a Mec, heavy, Assault and the last slot rotates between a second mec, a support, or another assault.
One sniper has double tap, the other ITZ, the heavy is specced to blow everything up ever, the mec is also specced for that and also punching. The assault is for mopping up anything that hasn't been obliterated by multiple explosions and ITZ chains, and the rotation is for if things go tits up, I've got an extra to fix the titsup.
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After a while, I stopped needing the % part. I started being able to assess cover and do a rough estimate of range.
Except for those fucking times where the cover works different and my dude won't shoot AROUND something, but I think that's a LoS implementation bug.
My frustration bubbles-out during XCOM missions when bugs dick me over for a couple of reasons:
- Any given mission, for me, is usually a significant time sink. Sometimes I spend literally ten minutes debating with myself about what I should do, what options are or aren't on the table, what my fallback plans are if things go south, etc. This is probably the most fun part of the game for me.
- The biggest pay-off for me in a game like XCOM is seeing whether or not a plan succeeds. Even if some random factor rather than strictly poor or excellent planning is what determines the outcome (random good or bad crit, pod activation, etc), watching how my decisions play out on the aliens' turn is a Big Deal to me.
So, a bug then crops-up and says, "Hi! You're planning doesn't even matter, because the environment on your screen doesn't even mesh with the collision / LoS maths working behind the scenes. Have fun just watching random bullshit happen!" it just defeats the entire experience I was trying to have.
Also it seems there are so many countries, and it takes forever to build the satalite rooms and satalites themselves that even on the lower difficulties how do you not lose a country?
I'm a complete newb to x com by the way. The Mechs are awesome though.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Depends on the mission. Crashed UFOs go longest, terror's shorter. Usually they only last a few hours, so unless it's RIGHT about to hit, you probably shouldn't wait.
And it's tricky to juggle all the countries, don't always manage it on classic, but that's why they leave you a 7 nation buffer.
Why I fear the ocean.
How long can I let the base assault mission sit? All I have to do is build the skeleton key, but I'd like to get some more research and satellites in the air first.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
That said, if you wait too long, you have to deal with
Though I have never played on easy, so I'm not sure how true that stands in your case.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Easy only upgrades enemies when you do plot missions. No time based improvements to 'em.
Makes things too easy, maybe, but there you go.
Why I fear the ocean.
Game 1: First mission - Hey yeah, I probably shouldn't have split my squad that way. TPK
Game 2: First mission - whoops, too aggressive. TPK
Game 3: First mission - slogged it out and some hero got 7 kills and lost one soldier. Second mission? Subway Station + Clown Car spawns. TPK
Game 4: First mission - aced it with no wounds. Second mission? It's like raaa-eee-aaaaiiiin...on Murder Streeeet. TPK. Guess it's time for bed. :bigfrown:
Yeah, maybe should have gone back to Classic until I remember how to play...
--Mark Twain
(also I may have started the game over several times until I got a starting squad that was above average)
I never start a game without those and Training Roulette. Usually New Economy, too, just to change up the world map some.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
In basic XCOM instead of Long War?
Very useful. Most plasma weapons can reliably one shot mutons.
Why I fear the ocean.
The light plasma rifle does as much damage as a laser rifle and has an accuracy bonus. Great for getting rookies up to speed.
The other plasma weapons will kill an enemy a laser weapon often just wounds.
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3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
The alloy cannon can kill almost everything in the game in one round of fire, if you're lucky with crits.
Shotgun rapid fire is a thing of beauty.
Why I fear the ocean.
Like, no change to the mechanics, but when you kill an enemy with a super-flechette-rail-shotgun, I feel like it should blow things in half.
Fallout 2 had this amazing graphic for a gauss rifle critical kill where you blew an 18-inch hole in the abdomen/chest area of a person, and the corpse just crumpled. Combined with the noise the gun made, it was the most deeply satisfying kill animation I think I've ever seen.
That is amazing and on the same level as mechwarrior's "fusion reactors explode because it's cool".
They don't explode, it's a obviously a stream pressure bomb from breaching the reactor wall and flooding it with water!
That's a direct quote from a dev
Always Be Rapidfiring.
To be fair, that was the general critical kill animation for ballistic weapon not on burst fire. The same thing would happen on a critical kill from a BB gun. Pretty sure it happened if you critically punched someone to death too.
This is not a complaint.
Steam Profile
3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
Omae wa mō shindeiru.
(Back to X-Com, I love how Rapid Fire is one of the few skills that's a straight upgrade over just shooting... if you're always shoving a shotgun right in some alien's face. It's the game encouraging what I always want to do anyway.)
Why I fear the ocean.
On the other hand, it's up against lightning reflexes. AKA: Overwatching aliens can just eat a dick.
I tend to regret it when I don't have something to break overwatch. Don't get me wrong, EW Close Quarters is pretty great. But it's a tough call.
Why I fear the ocean.
Speaking of which, what's everyone's usual squad composition? I go for one sniper, one support, two assaults, and two heavies.
It never does for me.
I don't think I have ever had that happen or needed to do that.
So I can't actually imagine what kind of shit you must getting yourself into. :P
Usually two assaults, one heavy, one support, one sniper, and then "okay, who's not going to be crap for this level of ship/mission and isn't horribly wounded?"
Steam Profile
3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
Assault, heavy/SHIV, support, MEC(heavy), assault, MEC(Sniper) is my ideal non LW set. The Sniper you MEC at max rank (so he retains his aim bonus) and keep as a sniper otherwise.
You can replace your heavy with a SHIV if you have shiv suppression. Normal shivs should not be used because they're hard to make early (and don't have suppression until the foundry upgrade anyway) but are decent. Alloy shivs and hover shivs both have unique attributes which make them valuable but hover shivs are probably more valuable on the whole because they have 40 total def while flying making it super hard for them to be hit on reaction shots. (Basically if you dash a hover shiv that is flying the enemy has to have 92 aim in order to have a 1% hit chance). But the ability to create cover anywhere is. It to be underestimated.
One sniper has double tap, the other ITZ, the heavy is specced to blow everything up ever, the mec is also specced for that and also punching. The assault is for mopping up anything that hasn't been obliterated by multiple explosions and ITZ chains, and the rotation is for if things go tits up, I've got an extra to fix the titsup.