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.
Depends on who I got that's good. But, when I have a free hand, I tend to go for a MEC and a sniper to start, since they tend to rack up the most kills. Assault gets a slot next, since nobody else is as good in a clutch. Then a heavy for some boom. Support to round things off, but if I cut one unit type, it's the support.
After that, spare space goes to a heavy or an assault.
That said, I've sometimes ran missions with 3 or more heavies, and those ones are glorious.
So, was pretty sure that I was going to lose a nation this month, but through some means I'm not aware of the panic dropped by one and I kept in on the council. It was one of the South American countries, and I had already gotten satellite coverage over it, and had used one of my spare satellites that month on the other South American country so in that last bit of the month I did every autopsy and interrogation I could. I'm guessing that getting the continent bonus may have reduced the panic?
There is a chance, when you're at 5 panic and you have a satellite over a nation, that panic falls. I think its, by default 50%. But i think its more realistically 25%.
Because you have a 50% chance to leave and then if they don't leave 50% chance to drop panic.
All i know in the ini the number is 50%
+1
DuriniaEvolved from Space PotatoesRegistered Userregular
That said, I've sometimes ran missions with 3 or more heavies, and those ones are glorious.
I'm sure Dr. Vahlen just loves those missions...
I don't really tend to have set lineups, and it morph over time. I find supports don't get a lot of use until later in the game for me (when you're basically guaranteed to be taking some damage) - if one of my soldiers gets nailed early on, they're pretty much screwed anyways. I do like 2 snipers, especially when at least one is ITZ and you get some ghost armor assaults to scout...
Now that I think about it, I had a really good run of meld captures in my current game and I probably could have afforded a full squad of MECs fairly early. That might be entertaining to try...
For business reasons, I must preserve the outward sign of sanity.
--Mark Twain
When you have Training Roulette on, and I always do, the lineup can be really variable. There are some missions where, because of injuries or whatnot, I'm running three supports or assaults, but all of them have different builds & purposes. Like I will have in-your-face Assault, Cover Fire Assault, and Medic Assault.
any quality of life mods recommended for enemy within? I did a fresh install and am playing a new campaign - maybe one to unlock all the second wave stuff? something that lets you see more stats like long war?
Just in case anyone missed it, Chaos Reborn is now on Steam Early Access.
It's the new turn-based strategy game from Jullian Gollop - the original genius behind X-Com (and Chaos, and Laser Squad, and Rebelstar, and Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars.... etc etc). It might be an early build but online multiplayer is available and it's very slick. Probably ought to get it's own thread I'd imagine, but I'm not as active here as I used to be.
While it's an arena based strategy game, a lot of the elements will be familiar to XCom players. I've played it and it's very, very good considering the stage it's at. The current community are just about the nicest bunch of online gamers I've met ("good luck", "no-good luck to you", "do you mind if I magic bolt you?" "well played!" etc)
Rock Pager Shotgun has a number of articles on it (and his chances of remaking X-Com):
I'm suuuuuuuuuper drunk and trying to play Vanilla for the first time in a long time. I watched some Beagle streams and I have no clue what i'm doing...come help meo ut!
well, I'd love to help on account of my constant need to make myself feel smarter than others, but this thing is just spending the entire time buffering so I basically would be entirely unable to contribute
God damn. Got one of the Progeny missions on Long War (excite, never done those).
Fuck me. I had no idea what I was getting into, so I though "3 rocketeers? Seems legit". That probably saved me since 2 were double rocket carriers.
So I'm advancing across the dam, and mechtoids keep dropping from the god damn sky (killed 3 of them with one hit) until finally the truck is in sight. Only I have only 3 turns to reach it (doable) and there's a mixed pack of Mutons and floaters sitting right the fuck on top of it.
At this point, I save, because HAHAHAHA<suicide>.
Because you see, at this point, I shoot some of the mutons and think "ok, so long as we end at the truck, that works"...but then 2 more Mechtoids drop right on top of me (I'm out of rockets at this point), along with some more mutons and a sectoid because why not apparently. Oh and also there was a seeker somewhere around and it's like 5am IRL time now I notice.
So I try this a few ways, but the punchline is I'm not making it to that truck by killing all the aliens. Whack on the action music mix from Youtube (and then forget I had it running, so this mission got epic music backing it).
And implement my final plan:
The members of my squad who have suppression lay it out on both the Mechtoids. The guys who don't start killing or wounding mutons. And my scout just runs like hell for the truck - which he's one tile short of making, so instead he runs into muton-town and cowers behind a pickup truck.
Turn advances: Mechtoids arm up and start shooting but suppression means they miss...mostly. One mechtoid kills his suppressor. A seeker decloaks and strangles one of my guys ... I decide to leave him strangled because then the aliens won't shoot him next turn and I'm not sure the mission is going to end at this point...
Somehow, every muton panics and retreats, and so my scout dashes to the truck.
And then the progeny cutscene plays, against the backdrop of 2 mechtoids, a few mutons and one of my soldiers being choked to death by a Seeker. But the music for it was epic.
Yeah, you made the right call on the dam mission. I survived it solely because my MEC was a badass with HEAT weaponry, because the mechtoid rain is REAL.
Having just gotten EW, I can safely say that the best part of it is being able to give my mans ODST helmets. Like, new gear, new enemies, new missions, those are nice. But this is mostly about having ODST helmets.
By the way, I haven't been keeping up with Marbozir, but in the "you may also like" sidebar on one of Beagle's videos, there was an episode of Marbozir's Long War series entitled "Episode 238: Temple Ship Assault".
0
scherbchenAsgard (it is dead)Registered Userregular
yeah but you have to be able to take that accent....
0
mastertheheroProfessional Video Editor & Book AuthorRegistered Userregular
Yeah Marbozir just finished his long war series. I think it was a total of 242 episodes. It was epic, was actually strange to see it finally be over. That man knows how to play X-Com without question.
I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this but I recently asked everyone in my Steam friends list (quite a few are from Penny Arcade Forums) if they would like to possibly have their Steam name appear as a soldier in XCOM: Enemy Within and which regions of the world they would like their soldier to come from.
At first, I screwed up and later figured out I had been modifying the Default Names List for Enemy Unknown, I thought Enemy Within used the same list. So when I asked everyone which regions they would like, I left out Polish. So now all the men names are my brother in law and all the women names my sister *shrugs*
So, with growing gamer impatience waiting for the final replies from my Steam friends list, I just threw what I had together and started playing for fun (Easy, Random Starting Stats, Stat Growth, Random Perk Picks, Flanking Angles). Its off to a pretty good start in North America with almost a complete PAer starting four:
At first, I thought for sure Eraserbrain was done for when she took first contact double moving for some meld but low and behold it actually ended up drawing the sectoids right into Awwpi and Evma's overwatch. Eraserbrain then took upon themself to blow up the drive through and the sectoid serving customers from it on a 65% shot! The sectoids working the kitchen took exception to no longer getting orders and came rushing out to get Eraserbrain's order of death with a side of fries.
From the experience Eraserbrain decided that their crucial role of random from all that killing would be:
Leon decided to take up employment again as a sniper, which shouldn't be that surprising given her past history in New York.
Then it was back to base with a few funds spent on whatever seemed like it needed to get started when I noticed the rest of the awesome starting roster looking to head out on the next mission:
Well, let's go see what the scanners pick up for their first rookie mission ... Alien Abduction! Ugh, bloody space terrorists. Argentina, South Africa, and Canada were all desperately calling for help. Was it really a choice? The skyranger loaded up with rookies Big Isy, Evma, Polycounter, and The Noid in record time and we headed off to Canada where the aliens were being dicks at a local liqour store having heard the surest way to piss off Canadians was to take away their drinks, the fiends.
Here are the highlights of the mission (AKA as when I was remembering to take a screen shot):
Big Isy doesn't like seeing her squad mate shot and scared into huddling behind a crate of molson or maybe it was her own gaping chest wound, so decides to quit messing around and tosses a nade out the back door. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=377047245
That settled it for me, I made a silly command to gather up the rest of the funds and see who else would be interested in joining this XCOM venture and sent out a request for 41 more rookies...
CanadianWolverine on
+3
SpectrumArcher of InfernoChaldea Rec RoomRegistered Userregular
Is LW still pretty much a protracted loss that is difficult to see until you already invest too much time into it?
As someone who literally just started playing EW for the first time and LW for the first time on top of that, I am also sort of interested in the answer to this question.
LW is what it always has been, an unrellenting marathon of alien battles but depending on your difficulty level will determine how badly it will punish you for taking a slow route to important tech (like mechs, ghost grenades, etc.)
Impossible setting pretty much slaps you around pretty badly to where an early misstep will have to be overcome with superior tactics and inferior tech, and more and more forgiving down the line. I have not yet beaten impossible but im working on a bronzeman campaign again, i got to plasma last time and it was extremely gratifying.
Whoa, didn't realize anyone took any interest in the misadventures of my PAer XCOM soldiers but I have been still taking screen shots (so there is more there than just what I have posted here if you feel like taking a look).
Here is a mission that I am sure sticks in many XCOM player's minds, told to you with my screen shots that I eventually remembered to take:
LW is what it always has been, an unrellenting marathon of alien battles but depending on your difficulty level will determine how badly it will punish you for taking a slow route to important tech (like mechs, ghost grenades, etc.)
Impossible setting pretty much slaps you around pretty badly to where an early misstep will have to be overcome with superior tactics and inferior tech, and more and more forgiving down the line. I have not yet beaten impossible but im working on a bronzeman campaign again, i got to plasma last time and it was extremely gratifying.
Which are the important tech paths in long war? Just starting out and loving the larger squad size and such, but the tech tree is pretty intimidating.
Air Lasers. Get air lasers ASAP, they will be your best weapon against the alien menace up until they start fielding battleships and the like. Once you can take control of the air war and stop scouting missions, you can worry about controlling the land war.
Air Lasers. Get air lasers ASAP, they will be your best weapon against the alien menace up until they start fielding battleships and the like. Once you can take control of the air war and stop scouting missions, you can worry about controlling the land war.
So getting a sattelite up on each continent is more important than activating continent bonuses? To make sure I can intercept as many scouts as possible? I am incredibly fussy on detection mechanics, since the regular game let you get full sattelite coverage so early.
Air Lasers. Get air lasers ASAP, they will be your best weapon against the alien menace up until they start fielding battleships and the like. Once you can take control of the air war and stop scouting missions, you can worry about controlling the land war.
So getting a sattelite up on each continent is more important than activating continent bonuses? To make sure I can intercept as many scouts as possible? I am incredibly fussy on detection mechanics, since the regular game let you get full sattelite coverage so early.
Don't even TRY to expand past your first continent until you have air lasers and 6 interceptors on your starting continent.
It's more that you need to be able to shoot down UFOs to use your troops, so getting better guns for your troops is secondary to nailing UFOs consistently and safely. Every successful UFO mission gives them research, and you need to stop that from happening.
You ARE going to lose a continent. Period, it's more or less unavoidable. With good play you could even potentially take back a continent, but you should focus more on shoring up at the start.
Air Lasers. Get air lasers ASAP, they will be your best weapon against the alien menace up until they start fielding battleships and the like. Once you can take control of the air war and stop scouting missions, you can worry about controlling the land war.
So getting a sattelite up on each continent is more important than activating continent bonuses? To make sure I can intercept as many scouts as possible? I am incredibly fussy on detection mechanics, since the regular game let you get full sattelite coverage so early.
Don't even TRY to expand past your first continent until you have air lasers and 6 interceptors on your starting continent.
It's more that you need to be able to shoot down UFOs to use your troops, so getting better guns for your troops is secondary to nailing UFOs consistently and safely. Every successful UFO mission gives them research, and you need to stop that from happening.
You ARE going to lose a continent. Period, it's more or less unavoidable. With good play you could even potentially take back a continent, but you should focus more on shoring up at the start.
Speaking as someone who is maybe a month ahead of you, Frozenzen, you probably just won't have the money to expand past your starting continent assuming you're building what you need to build. And then even with only the interceptions from one continent to worry about, you're still in danger of Fatigue/Repair spiraling either your interceptors or your troops as is, so there's that.
0
scherbchenAsgard (it is dead)Registered Userregular
6 interceptors are not enough imho. at least in my experience, depends on your difficulty level of course.
I always needed 6 interceptors for my continent and another 2-3 parked on another continent as sub-ins when needed before even being safe on my turf. most of them laser'd up.
repair time is just punishing.
once you expand to another continent you need that force and another 4-6 interceptors -to defend the new continent asap- while you try to build up a new reserve and shuffle interceptors around to try and fill gaps.
the third continent gets easier as you already have a big air force and reserve by then and you do have some expert pilots. the first expansion to another continent is a massive drain on finances and personnel though.
Right, playing on normal since they reccomended that in the FAQ for people who found classic ew to be too stale.
I accidentally got most of my interceptors in repair state now due to attacking a large ufo, figuring if I threw enough bodies at it it would fall over. It did not! The mission itself where it lands is hilariously brutal, and I think I might have to start it and evacuate or something. Gonna try a few more times though, when I don't accidentally activate 3 enemy groups at the same time.
6 interceptors are not enough imho. at least in my experience, depends on your difficulty level of course.
I always needed 6 interceptors for my continent and another 2-3 parked on another continent as sub-ins when needed before even being safe on my turf. most of them laser'd up.
repair time is just punishing.
once you expand to another continent you need that force and another 4-6 interceptors -to defend the new continent asap- while you try to build up a new reserve and shuffle interceptors around to try and fill gaps.
the third continent gets easier as you already have a big air force and reserve by then and you do have some expert pilots. the first expansion to another continent is a massive drain on finances and personnel though.
Oh, that's a good idea. I have a little bit of money sitting around since I'm hilariously short on Alloys and Meld and I didn't want to use it on Satellites, but a couple more Interceptors would totally work.
edit: Nope, nevermind, no money left, Beam Lasers is about to hit I need to save for that 'cause Mutons just showed up and oh god do I not want to fight them with Ballistics.
Put the game on "not so long war". It makes it much better
I tried that once, but it didn't feel like it was balanced properly. The lack of missions meant that I never really had to worry about fatigue, which made it feel like I was cheating. That said, I heard that they balance "Not so Long War" better in beta 14, is that accurate?
I'm having trouble getting the Namelist to work. I replaced it in the user folderlike it Says in the OP,but it keeps getting repaired or something because the original file repropagates itself.
Posts
Depends on who I got that's good. But, when I have a free hand, I tend to go for a MEC and a sniper to start, since they tend to rack up the most kills. Assault gets a slot next, since nobody else is as good in a clutch. Then a heavy for some boom. Support to round things off, but if I cut one unit type, it's the support.
After that, spare space goes to a heavy or an assault.
That said, I've sometimes ran missions with 3 or more heavies, and those ones are glorious.
Why I fear the ocean.
Because you have a 50% chance to leave and then if they don't leave 50% chance to drop panic.
All i know in the ini the number is 50%
I'm sure Dr. Vahlen just loves those missions...
I don't really tend to have set lineups, and it morph over time. I find supports don't get a lot of use until later in the game for me (when you're basically guaranteed to be taking some damage) - if one of my soldiers gets nailed early on, they're pretty much screwed anyways. I do like 2 snipers, especially when at least one is ITZ and you get some ghost armor assaults to scout...
Now that I think about it, I had a really good run of meld captures in my current game and I probably could have afforded a full squad of MECs fairly early. That might be entertaining to try...
--Mark Twain
It's the new turn-based strategy game from Jullian Gollop - the original genius behind X-Com (and Chaos, and Laser Squad, and Rebelstar, and Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars.... etc etc). It might be an early build but online multiplayer is available and it's very slick. Probably ought to get it's own thread I'd imagine, but I'm not as active here as I used to be.
While it's an arena based strategy game, a lot of the elements will be familiar to XCom players. I've played it and it's very, very good considering the stage it's at. The current community are just about the nicest bunch of online gamers I've met ("good luck", "no-good luck to you", "do you mind if I magic bolt you?" "well played!" etc)
Rock Pager Shotgun has a number of articles on it (and his chances of remaking X-Com):
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/12/09/chaos-reborn-release-date/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/12/09/chaos-remake/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/12/10/new-xcom-game/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/12/10/new-laser-squad/
I'm suuuuuuuuuper drunk and trying to play Vanilla for the first time in a long time. I watched some Beagle streams and I have no clue what i'm doing...come help meo ut!
http://www.twitch.tv/garagefridge/
Long War, here I come!
Thanks a lot, Mr. Blow The Picture For Me.
Wonder what that guy says about Enemy Within.
Fuck me. I had no idea what I was getting into, so I though "3 rocketeers? Seems legit". That probably saved me since 2 were double rocket carriers.
So I'm advancing across the dam, and mechtoids keep dropping from the god damn sky (killed 3 of them with one hit) until finally the truck is in sight. Only I have only 3 turns to reach it (doable) and there's a mixed pack of Mutons and floaters sitting right the fuck on top of it.
At this point, I save, because HAHAHAHA<suicide>.
Because you see, at this point, I shoot some of the mutons and think "ok, so long as we end at the truck, that works"...but then 2 more Mechtoids drop right on top of me (I'm out of rockets at this point), along with some more mutons and a sectoid because why not apparently. Oh and also there was a seeker somewhere around and it's like 5am IRL time now I notice.
So I try this a few ways, but the punchline is I'm not making it to that truck by killing all the aliens. Whack on the action music mix from Youtube (and then forget I had it running, so this mission got epic music backing it).
And implement my final plan:
The members of my squad who have suppression lay it out on both the Mechtoids. The guys who don't start killing or wounding mutons. And my scout just runs like hell for the truck - which he's one tile short of making, so instead he runs into muton-town and cowers behind a pickup truck.
Turn advances: Mechtoids arm up and start shooting but suppression means they miss...mostly. One mechtoid kills his suppressor. A seeker decloaks and strangles one of my guys ... I decide to leave him strangled because then the aliens won't shoot him next turn and I'm not sure the mission is going to end at this point...
Somehow, every muton panics and retreats, and so my scout dashes to the truck.
And then the progeny cutscene plays, against the backdrop of 2 mechtoids, a few mutons and one of my soldiers being choked to death by a Seeker. But the music for it was epic.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
At first, I screwed up and later figured out I had been modifying the Default Names List for Enemy Unknown, I thought Enemy Within used the same list. So when I asked everyone which regions they would like, I left out Polish. So now all the men names are my brother in law and all the women names my sister *shrugs*
So, with growing gamer impatience waiting for the final replies from my Steam friends list, I just threw what I had together and started playing for fun (Easy, Random Starting Stats, Stat Growth, Random Perk Picks, Flanking Angles). Its off to a pretty good start in North America with almost a complete PAer starting four:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=377046531
At first, I thought for sure Eraserbrain was done for when she took first contact double moving for some meld but low and behold it actually ended up drawing the sectoids right into Awwpi and Evma's overwatch. Eraserbrain then took upon themself to blow up the drive through and the sectoid serving customers from it on a 65% shot! The sectoids working the kitchen took exception to no longer getting orders and came rushing out to get Eraserbrain's order of death with a side of fries.
From the experience Eraserbrain decided that their crucial role of random from all that killing would be:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=377046739
And Awwpi, he took up a promising role to further protect others as:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=377046642
Leon decided to take up employment again as a sniper, which shouldn't be that surprising given her past history in New York.
Then it was back to base with a few funds spent on whatever seemed like it needed to get started when I noticed the rest of the awesome starting roster looking to head out on the next mission:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=377047163
Well, let's go see what the scanners pick up for their first rookie mission ... Alien Abduction! Ugh, bloody space terrorists. Argentina, South Africa, and Canada were all desperately calling for help. Was it really a choice? The skyranger loaded up with rookies Big Isy, Evma, Polycounter, and The Noid in record time and we headed off to Canada where the aliens were being dicks at a local liqour store having heard the surest way to piss off Canadians was to take away their drinks, the fiends.
Here are the highlights of the mission (AKA as when I was remembering to take a screen shot):
Big Isy doesn't like seeing her squad mate shot and scared into huddling behind a crate of molson or maybe it was her own gaping chest wound, so decides to quit messing around and tosses a nade out the back door.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=377047245
Evma narrowly misses being killed by a sectoid pissed at being denied their alcohol purchase as they were below 19 years of age.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=377047299
The Noid finishes up the last target (and her killing streak of 3),
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=377047346
The narrow brush with death convinced these rookies that the right course of action in the future would be getting to carry a med kit...
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=377047406
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=377047479
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=377047517
All except Big Isy, who was certain she would be safer far to the rear sighting aliens through her scope. Just as soon as she finished healing up.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=377047598
That settled it for me, I made a silly command to gather up the rest of the funds and see who else would be interested in joining this XCOM venture and sent out a request for 41 more rookies...
Impossible setting pretty much slaps you around pretty badly to where an early misstep will have to be overcome with superior tactics and inferior tech, and more and more forgiving down the line. I have not yet beaten impossible but im working on a bronzeman campaign again, i got to plasma last time and it was extremely gratifying.
Here is a mission that I am sure sticks in many XCOM player's minds, told to you with my screen shots that I eventually remembered to take:
1) http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=378693001
2) http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=378693188
3) http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=378693297
4) http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=378693359
5) http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=378693428
6) http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=378694257
Which are the important tech paths in long war? Just starting out and loving the larger squad size and such, but the tech tree is pretty intimidating.
I'm contemplating getting Space Hulk: Ascension to feed the hole in my life that XCOM left.
So getting a sattelite up on each continent is more important than activating continent bonuses? To make sure I can intercept as many scouts as possible? I am incredibly fussy on detection mechanics, since the regular game let you get full sattelite coverage so early.
Don't even TRY to expand past your first continent until you have air lasers and 6 interceptors on your starting continent.
It's more that you need to be able to shoot down UFOs to use your troops, so getting better guns for your troops is secondary to nailing UFOs consistently and safely. Every successful UFO mission gives them research, and you need to stop that from happening.
You ARE going to lose a continent. Period, it's more or less unavoidable. With good play you could even potentially take back a continent, but you should focus more on shoring up at the start.
I always needed 6 interceptors for my continent and another 2-3 parked on another continent as sub-ins when needed before even being safe on my turf. most of them laser'd up.
repair time is just punishing.
once you expand to another continent you need that force and another 4-6 interceptors -to defend the new continent asap- while you try to build up a new reserve and shuffle interceptors around to try and fill gaps.
the third continent gets easier as you already have a big air force and reserve by then and you do have some expert pilots. the first expansion to another continent is a massive drain on finances and personnel though.
I accidentally got most of my interceptors in repair state now due to attacking a large ufo, figuring if I threw enough bodies at it it would fall over. It did not! The mission itself where it lands is hilariously brutal, and I think I might have to start it and evacuate or something. Gonna try a few more times though, when I don't accidentally activate 3 enemy groups at the same time.
edit: Nope, nevermind, no money left, Beam Lasers is about to hit I need to save for that 'cause Mutons just showed up and oh god do I not want to fight them with Ballistics.
I tried that once, but it didn't feel like it was balanced properly. The lack of missions meant that I never really had to worry about fatigue, which made it feel like I was cheating. That said, I heard that they balance "Not so Long War" better in beta 14, is that accurate?
What am I missing here?
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