Spending the intel on the extra person for the tower assault is so pointless. I have never been attacked on that mission. Just give everyone wraith armor and run to the objective.
I didn't notice all the intel bonuses on the mission AND I didn't bring any psi ops people and only brought 1 colonel. I figured the game was about to pull some bullshit where the 3 people I brought on the Radio Tower would be unavailable for the real final mission, so I saved my best people. It was a lot of fun though, really tense, and forced me to change up the tactics that I had gotten comfortable using. It's part of the reason I want more missions like it in the DLC.
I don't use shadowstep anymore since it literally never proced the whole game. If I wanted to break overwatch, I just used a grenade, guaranteed stock damage, combat protocol, sniper rifle, hail of bullets, etc. Guaranteed damage abounds.
IMO better to take shadow strike and occasionally get an attack boost than shadow step that never does anything.
I don't use shadowstep anymore since it literally never proced the whole game. If I wanted to break overwatch, I just used a grenade, guaranteed stock damage, combat protocol, sniper rifle, hail of bullets, etc. Guaranteed damage abounds.
IMO better to take shadow strike and occasionally get an attack boost than shadow step that never does anything.
It makes that person unable to be caught in overwatch, is the thing. So you run them in and fire a gun and don't have to waste a grenade to clear the overwatch.
I don't use shadowstep anymore since it literally never proced the whole game. If I wanted to break overwatch, I just used a grenade, guaranteed stock damage, combat protocol, sniper rifle, hail of bullets, etc. Guaranteed damage abounds.
IMO better to take shadow strike and occasionally get an attack boost than shadow step that never does anything.
it doesn't break overwatch
It's worse than that. It only prevents the Ranger from triggering overwatch, so it is absolute garbage. Maybe it would actually be useful if it was like the old ability, lightning reflexes I think was the name, that triggered and dodged overwatch.
There is so much guaranteed damage that an enemy overwatching is essentially an enemy wasting their turn.
God help them if you have a psi trooper. They've got at least a half dozen reusable ways to break overwatch at will.
General_Armchair on
3DS Friend Code:
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
0
mastertheheroProfessional Video Editor & Book AuthorRegistered Userregular
Started experimenting with some mods and I gotta say, it'll be hard for me to go back!
I've created a very cool Tactical Infiltration Team (T.I.T.) using the Uniform Manager and Capnbubs added tactical elements which includes balaclavas and tac masks. So these outfits I use specifically for alien facility mission. Then when I get back to guerilla ops, they'll wear their resistance freedom fighter style outfits.
Also Shadowshot makes your concealed ambushes more powerful since your rangers will likely get 100% shots out of it. I do ambushes a lot more often than I need to break overwatch. I would use a ranger with a 100% shadowshot to active pods sometimes and save grenades. Shadowstep does allow you to get into flanking position while ignoring overwatch, which can save your ass sometimes. If you run 2 rangers, it can be a good idea to have one of each.
I don't use shadowstep anymore since it literally never proced the whole game. If I wanted to break overwatch, I just used a grenade, guaranteed stock damage, combat protocol, sniper rifle, hail of bullets, etc. Guaranteed damage abounds.
IMO better to take shadow strike and occasionally get an attack boost than shadow step that never does anything.
it doesn't break overwatch
It's worse than that. It only prevents the Ranger from triggering overwatch, so it is absolute garbage. Maybe it would actually be useful if it was like the old ability, lightning reflexes I think was the name, that triggered and dodged overwatch.
There is so much guaranteed damage that an enemy overwatching is essentially an enemy wasting their turn.
God help them if you have a psi trooper. They've got at least a half dozen reusable ways to break overwatch at will.
Is lightning reflexes gone? One of my grenadiers got it last night with the AWC.
Firaxis should just cut Capnbub a check and then directly incorporate all of his accessories into the base game. The quality is just top notch.
When it started with the beret and he was like "I'm going to try to add more that are quality" I was like ha right cool cool good beret and I'll see you in three years when you've got a beret + tassel and then wow he just has been cranking out amazing bits of gear.
I don't use shadowstep anymore since it literally never proced the whole game. If I wanted to break overwatch, I just used a grenade, guaranteed stock damage, combat protocol, sniper rifle, hail of bullets, etc. Guaranteed damage abounds.
IMO better to take shadow strike and occasionally get an attack boost than shadow step that never does anything.
it doesn't break overwatch
It's worse than that. It only prevents the Ranger from triggering overwatch, so it is absolute garbage. Maybe it would actually be useful if it was like the old ability, lightning reflexes I think was the name, that triggered and dodged overwatch.
There is so much guaranteed damage that an enemy overwatching is essentially an enemy wasting their turn.
God help them if you have a psi trooper. They've got at least a half dozen reusable ways to break overwatch at will.
Lightning Reflexes does exits as an AWC perk. I had two grenadiers with it and it was pretty awesome for being able to repo for a better shredstorm angle without having to deal with and overwatch first.
Won't deny that overwatch breaking on damage/disorient or suppression (though not mind control, which can lead to some crazy shenanigans from both sides) makes shadowstep less useful than if it had existed in EU, but you can't always assume that there is always one of the above available, or if wasting the charge or cooldown is worth it for the enemy in question.
Plus, more than once have I seen a Codex drop one of their weapon-disabling delayed explosion things and then have several enemies move to overwatch over the area which will detonate even if the codex and all it's clones are killed, so even if you have ordinance to spare firing one of those skills in place might not always be the safest idea.
Foefaller on
0
Zxerolfor the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't doso i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered Userregular
Capnbub's got a Patreon going at a few hundred dollars. That's not the biggest amount ever, but it's some decent change for rad virtual hatmaking.
Faceless having 10 square melee reach and full health lethal is still bullshit.
They actually don't have a move and attack though (AKA Muton Bayonet, Lancer Rush, Ranger Sword etc), so if you're outside of their blue move they can't attack you at all that turn (they only transform by themselves if they have a valid move and attack - but if they have to go even one square they will not be able to hit you). Additionally their AI is terrible, they have no inbuilt melee counter, they only hit 60% (or possibly 70%) of the time with their melee attack and they don't always deal enough damage to kill. They are a threat, but they're not the worst melee alien by miles and their corpses yield the most overpowered item in the entire game (at least until the next patch nerfs it anyway).
Chryssalids are far worse and actually break fundamental aspects of how the game works in the way they operate, plus you absolutely HAVE to hard counter them or they are mission ending.
Also the Two Best Friends have been playing XCOM 2 and Woolies reaction to the sectoid was utterly priceless:
"He's got some shit on his arm too. He's naked, but he's TACTICALLY naked. You see a naked guy, you go he's crazy. But if you see he's naked but he's got a really high tech arm band, you know that nakedness is DELIBERATE."
They can melee you from 10 squares (their melee attack can attack 3 squares away), its enough with their reveal/attack on the same turn + high health and regeneration schticks for it to be pretty uncounterable a lot of times.
None of your other examples are nearly as bullshit because they don't hit you in the first month and you'll have ways to deal with them and strategic resources to take losses.
Faceless having 10 square melee reach and full health lethal is still bullshit.
...They can lethal you from full health?
Yeah, that is kind of BS then. I've never taken more than 3 damage from them.
I still think it's sort-of reasonable, though, because you're supposed to play around the civilians as best you can. Every civvie is a Faceless.
They're very manageable except for the first retaliation strike on legendary where they're bullshit. On a crit they can deal 5 and instagib a squaddie, which is what you have at that point. My last run lost 2 soldiers to 2 faceless who both critted 5, it's enough for the campaign to nosedive.
They can also just reveal and blow up the car you're next to, oneshotting you as well. At least that's something I can play around by not standing around cars but it was pretty funny/frustrating when it happened on a faceless reveal 10 squares away.
I'm talking strictly legendary by the way, I haven't played the other difficulty levels.
It might be a bit gamey, but I've honestly found it easier to just hunt down the aliens and kill them all rather than actually trying to rescue any civvies. Though be warned, as soon as the last alien dies the faceless will transform and attack, so make sure your dudes are a decent distance away from any humans at that point.
This all becomes moot once you get tier 3 weapons and a decent Ranger. Just blue move the chap(pess) for rescue and lol at the dramatic tranformation animation. All the while waiting for your 100% hit 80% crit shotgun blast.
It would've been cool if they had more than just armor and shields, or more mob variety than just "everyone gets 1 shield" or "this big bad always has 6 armor" or "only Shieldbearers give everyone shields". Like, maybe some mobs have a lot of shields but no health, or a lot of armor but no shields, or a lot of both. Then they could have Incendiary work extra-well against shields but not that great against armor, while AP would ignore armor but gets stopped against shields, and Bluescreen would stay the same while Venom could be anti-organic. This would make it a lot more appealing to take specialized ammo and grenades, and would also allow for more class variety (i.e., Specialists shut down mechanicals hard, Rangers can one-hit kill organics in melee range, Grenadiers are anti-armor, Sharpshooters are anti-shields). Instead it often feels like the classes are directly competing with each other instead of helping to cover particular weaknesses, which is again only exacerbated by the opportunity cost inherent in managing the strategic layer.
Sounds Borderlands-esque:
Fire > Organics
Acid > Armor
Electricity > Shields
Maybe standardize the nomenclature: turn AP rounds into Acid rounds to fit the theme, turn bluescreen rounds into EMP rounds to match the grenade/bomb names.
Add some weapon upgrades that add elemental damage/apply ammo properties (or just add a dedicated ammo slot to every soldier) and I think you have a cool little mod. Especially if secondary weapons (pistols/swords/gremlins) can receive upgrades and apply elemental damage as well.
So against a tough organic enemy with both shields and armor, your gunslinger can open up with an EMP pistol using lightning hands to take down the shields, then follow up with an acid sniper rifle attack to shred the armor. Then a second soldier can finish the job with an incendiary weapon.
Probably need to add way more shielded enemies to make EMP rounds worth it.
Need to take shred away from standard/plasma grenades to give acid its rightful place.
Of course you'd have to give elemental damage to mini-boss enemies that drop loot of the appropriate damage type. Plus X-COM portable shield generators so you have to fear enemy EMPs (there's a mod for this already). Also EMPs will suck for X-COM if we ever get MECs back (RIP in peace).
Modifications of existing troop types: Sectopods with built-in shield generators. Maybe a single target psionic shield ability for sectoids akin to the old mind merge.
Maybe some new ADVENT troop types. Some ADVENT equivalent of First Order flametroopers/broodwar firebats/NOD flamethrower infantry etc. ADVENT Chem Troopers who are immune to poison gas and acid.
0
Zxerolfor the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't doso i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered Userregular
So...what is the counter for chryssalids in this game, beyond just shooting them? I can't figure out how to avoid the burrowed ones...
Battle scanner, scanning protocol will reveal hidden units.
Yeah. Battlescanners is the item you want if you expect Chryssalids to be a major threat. I wouldn't go with scanning protocol, because Field Medic is IMHO damn useful.
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
0
DuriniaEvolved from Space PotatoesRegistered Userregular
The problem with battle scanner on 'lids is that if they are out of your normal sight range (and they will be, obviously) the scan will make them un-burrow, only to just immediately walk off and burrow again somewhere else on their turn.
So you either engage them immediately upon throwing the scanner, or you eat the burrow-watch anyway.
Steam / Xbox Live: WSDX NNID: W-S-D-X 3DS FC: 2637-9461-8549
So...what is the counter for chryssalids in this game, beyond just shooting them? I can't figure out how to avoid the burrowed ones...
Battle scanner, scanning protocol will reveal hidden units.
Yeah. Battlescanners is the item you want if you expect Chryssalids to be a major threat. I wouldn't go with scanning protocol, because Field Medic is IMHO damn useful.
I ran 2 specialists before I found the Psi Bros (@TheKoolEagle & @Hardtarget) so I make sure to take my specialist with scanning protocol along on retaliations. Too useful against Chryssalids and Faceless not to.
The problem with battle scanner on 'lids is that if they are out of your normal sight range (and they will be, obviously) the scan will make them un-burrow, only to just immediately walk off and burrow again somewhere else on their turn.
So you either engage them immediately upon throwing the scanner, or you eat the burrow-watch anyway.
Underwatch?
The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it. ~ Terry Pratchett
yeah I mostly don't care about gameplay mods or anything like that, but
oh my, hat mods. yeeeesssssssss
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
Word of warning: the babies your pet mind controlled chrysslid made with that Faceless it met while raiding a rebel village are NOT also friendly.
Chryssalids have some severely messed up family dynamics.
God you did that too? I was trying to figure out why the mission did not end.
0
mastertheheroProfessional Video Editor & Book AuthorRegistered Userregular
Also, killing a mind control alien counts as friendly fire and will register as a friendly death in the end mission screen. I thought I had lost a soldier and did a headcount and was like, "What the heck is the game talking--oh the mind controlled sectoid. Gotcha."
0
DuriniaEvolved from Space PotatoesRegistered Userregular
Also, killing a mind control alien counts as friendly fire and will register as a friendly death in the end mission screen. I thought I had lost a soldier and did a headcount and was like, "What the heck is the game talking--oh the mind controlled sectoid. Gotcha."
on the Avenger defense mission, if you have a MC'd unit, it will warn you repeatedly that you are LEAVING SOMEONE BEHIND if you hit liftoff without your MC'd dude.
Sadly, it won't let me recruit my heroic andromodan buddy permanently.
Durinia on
For business reasons, I must preserve the outward sign of sanity.
--Mark Twain
Also, killing a mind control alien counts as friendly fire and will register as a friendly death in the end mission screen. I thought I had lost a soldier and did a headcount and was like, "What the heck is the game talking--oh the mind controlled sectoid. Gotcha."
Also, if the Psi Operative who did the mind control evacs the mission, the MC breaks the next turn.
I may or may not have found this out the hard way. (It was totally the hard way.)
So...what is the counter for chryssalids in this game, beyond just shooting them? I can't figure out how to avoid the burrowed ones...
Battle scanner, scanning protocol will reveal hidden units.
Hack or M/C an enemy and run them in to trigger the lids.
Explosives on their buried positions also pop them.
If you pay careful attention to the fog of war, you can often see them pop up and burrow down, and then approach with caution
Overwatch 5 dudes FIRST, then move one dude up slowly - only feasible without a turn counter
I once was saved from getting attacked by a underwatching chrysalid from a successful bladestorm. Might have been a bug though, because it was in slow-mo after Jane Kelly thwacked it and I didn't wait long to see if something would happen before I shot it dead.
Mimic grenades are also good for forcing 'lids to show themselves. Or they will be until they're nerfed, which I expect any day now. I'm going to miss them, but I know I'm using them as a crutch to hide my poor gameplay choices.
0
mastertheheroProfessional Video Editor & Book AuthorRegistered Userregular
My guess is if they're going to nerf Mimic beacons it's either going to be.
A.) Use it, you lose it.
B.) One mimic beacon per squad.
Seems like a less painful way to nerf the beacon without sacrificing its effectiveness.
0
Dr. ChaosPost nuclear nuisanceRegistered Userregular
Will reinforcements come if you take too long on a blacksite mission?
No timer or anything but I'm getting kind of worried about trying to playing it safe on this one.
Posts
I didn't notice all the intel bonuses on the mission AND I didn't bring any psi ops people and only brought 1 colonel. I figured the game was about to pull some bullshit where the 3 people I brought on the Radio Tower would be unavailable for the real final mission, so I saved my best people. It was a lot of fun though, really tense, and forced me to change up the tactics that I had gotten comfortable using. It's part of the reason I want more missions like it in the DLC.
IMO better to take shadow strike and occasionally get an attack boost than shadow step that never does anything.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
it doesn't break overwatch
It's worse than that. It only prevents the Ranger from triggering overwatch, so it is absolute garbage. Maybe it would actually be useful if it was like the old ability, lightning reflexes I think was the name, that triggered and dodged overwatch.
There is so much guaranteed damage that an enemy overwatching is essentially an enemy wasting their turn.
God help them if you have a psi trooper. They've got at least a half dozen reusable ways to break overwatch at will.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
I've created a very cool Tactical Infiltration Team (T.I.T.) using the Uniform Manager and Capnbubs added tactical elements which includes balaclavas and tac masks. So these outfits I use specifically for alien facility mission. Then when I get back to guerilla ops, they'll wear their resistance freedom fighter style outfits.
So cool, really enhances the roleplay for me.
Spoilered for big:
Is lightning reflexes gone? One of my grenadiers got it last night with the AWC.
When it started with the beret and he was like "I'm going to try to add more that are quality" I was like ha right cool cool good beret and I'll see you in three years when you've got a beret + tassel and then wow he just has been cranking out amazing bits of gear.
Lightning Reflexes does exits as an AWC perk. I had two grenadiers with it and it was pretty awesome for being able to repo for a better shredstorm angle without having to deal with and overwatch first.
Won't deny that overwatch breaking on damage/disorient or suppression (though not mind control, which can lead to some crazy shenanigans from both sides) makes shadowstep less useful than if it had existed in EU, but you can't always assume that there is always one of the above available, or if wasting the charge or cooldown is worth it for the enemy in question.
Plus, more than once have I seen a Codex drop one of their weapon-disabling delayed explosion things and then have several enemies move to overwatch over the area which will detonate even if the codex and all it's clones are killed, so even if you have ordinance to spare firing one of those skills in place might not always be the safest idea.
They can melee you from 10 squares (their melee attack can attack 3 squares away), its enough with their reveal/attack on the same turn + high health and regeneration schticks for it to be pretty uncounterable a lot of times.
None of your other examples are nearly as bullshit because they don't hit you in the first month and you'll have ways to deal with them and strategic resources to take losses.
They're very manageable except for the first retaliation strike on legendary where they're bullshit. On a crit they can deal 5 and instagib a squaddie, which is what you have at that point. My last run lost 2 soldiers to 2 faceless who both critted 5, it's enough for the campaign to nosedive.
They can also just reveal and blow up the car you're next to, oneshotting you as well. At least that's something I can play around by not standing around cars but it was pretty funny/frustrating when it happened on a faceless reveal 10 squares away.
I'm talking strictly legendary by the way, I haven't played the other difficulty levels.
This all becomes moot once you get tier 3 weapons and a decent Ranger. Just blue move the chap(pess) for rescue and lol at the dramatic tranformation animation. All the while waiting for your 100% hit 80% crit shotgun blast.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/pablocampy
Had one that was damaging itself halfway across the map. I guess it kept falling?
Sectopods are fucking stupid.
Sounds Borderlands-esque:
Fire > Organics
Acid > Armor
Electricity > Shields
Maybe standardize the nomenclature: turn AP rounds into Acid rounds to fit the theme, turn bluescreen rounds into EMP rounds to match the grenade/bomb names.
Add some weapon upgrades that add elemental damage/apply ammo properties (or just add a dedicated ammo slot to every soldier) and I think you have a cool little mod. Especially if secondary weapons (pistols/swords/gremlins) can receive upgrades and apply elemental damage as well.
So against a tough organic enemy with both shields and armor, your gunslinger can open up with an EMP pistol using lightning hands to take down the shields, then follow up with an acid sniper rifle attack to shred the armor. Then a second soldier can finish the job with an incendiary weapon.
Probably need to add way more shielded enemies to make EMP rounds worth it.
Need to take shred away from standard/plasma grenades to give acid its rightful place.
Of course you'd have to give elemental damage to mini-boss enemies that drop loot of the appropriate damage type. Plus X-COM portable shield generators so you have to fear enemy EMPs (there's a mod for this already). Also EMPs will suck for X-COM if we ever get MECs back (RIP in peace).
Modifications of existing troop types: Sectopods with built-in shield generators. Maybe a single target psionic shield ability for sectoids akin to the old mind merge.
Maybe some new ADVENT troop types. Some ADVENT equivalent of First Order flametroopers/broodwar firebats/NOD flamethrower infantry etc. ADVENT Chem Troopers who are immune to poison gas and acid.
Battle scanner, scanning protocol will reveal hidden units.
*throws another dead ranger in the pile*
Yeah. Battlescanners is the item you want if you expect Chryssalids to be a major threat. I wouldn't go with scanning protocol, because Field Medic is IMHO damn useful.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
I had an unactivated andromodan kool-aid man through a forklift, blowing it up (yes, he took damage).
not the smartest dudes.
--Mark Twain
So you either engage them immediately upon throwing the scanner, or you eat the burrow-watch anyway.
I ran 2 specialists before I found the Psi Bros (@TheKoolEagle & @Hardtarget) so I make sure to take my specialist with scanning protocol along on retaliations. Too useful against Chryssalids and Faceless not to.
Underwatch?
Chryssalids have some severely messed up family dynamics.
oh my, hat mods. yeeeesssssssss
"Listen alien bug dad, just because you sided with XCOM doesn't mean I have to! I'm my own alien bug man!"
Scanners can force them to expose. Or over watch everyone and walk one soldier forward.
Sadly, it won't let me recruit my heroic andromodan buddy permanently.
--Mark Twain
I was actually sandbagging the last ADVENT guy to see if the babies would be under my control or not.
Also, if the Psi Operative who did the mind control evacs the mission, the MC breaks the next turn.
I may or may not have found this out the hard way. (It was totally the hard way.)
I once was saved from getting attacked by a underwatching chrysalid from a successful bladestorm. Might have been a bug though, because it was in slow-mo after Jane Kelly thwacked it and I didn't wait long to see if something would happen before I shot it dead.
A.) Use it, you lose it.
B.) One mimic beacon per squad.
Seems like a less painful way to nerf the beacon without sacrificing its effectiveness.
No timer or anything but I'm getting kind of worried about trying to playing it safe on this one.