Sirialisof the Halite Throne.Registered Userregular
edited December 2016
For fucks sake, Firaxis is fucking inept at fixing their own game, why are cutscenes crashing the game? It didnt do this before this last useless patch.
I've done the "Who needs Tygan" achievement twice now, using starter guns and gear on the final mission and the game keeps crashing in the cutscene of the ending on a specific point where it is looking at Central viewing a screen.
I dread doing the rest of my Ironman run if the stability of the game is like this, isnt this game over a year old by now? Yet it still stutters far too often and with an occasional crash even though it doesnt seem to be a demanding game if it was actually coded decently.
EDIT: 3rd time crashing on the exact same spot during cutscene, I guess the rest of the achievements are unobtainable right now since the game doesnt seem able to handle winning the Final Mission, great job Firaxis, I really needed that shitty My2K implementation patch instead of the game actually working.
I just started playing this game. So far it's okay, but just about every mission is timed. Is there an option to cut these down. I'm fine with a mission every once in awhile being timed, but these time limits are not forgiving at all.
The timer's part of the game. You can try to rebalance things with mods, or try to adjust how you feel about them, but the game's designed with them in mind.
+4
Sirialisof the Halite Throne.Registered Userregular
edited December 2016
Seems like 5th time was the charm, cutscene didnt crash this time and I got my "Who needs Tygan" achievement...
I just started playing this game. So far it's okay, but just about every mission is timed. Is there an option to cut these down. I'm fine with a mission every once in awhile being timed, but these time limits are not forgiving at all.
If you don't want timers, play XCOM:EU. Also a great game, with very few timed missions.
The sequel is specifically addressing complaints about the lack of urgency in most missions from its predecessor.
As someone who hates timers in games, I do suggest you give XCOM2 timers a chance. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked them, actually. I watched people play EU and I was bored to tears by the constant overwatching, but you can't do that every time here. Yes, you will occasionally have a mission where the timer screws you (in my experience it is Protect the Device missions every time) and the map is almost unwinnable. That's pretty rare though, and EU is just as likely to screw you in other ways. The timer forces you to be proactive which makes the game more fun in my opinion.
+7
mastertheheroProfessional Video Editor & Book AuthorRegistered Userregular
Yeah the timers are not as bad as you think they are. I mean, they can get pretty hair raising and force you to evac if things go sour, but in general the timers are very forgiving.
+2
WACriminalDying Is Easy, Young ManLiving Is HarderRegistered Userregular
So I haven't played this with any seriousness since before SPARKs and Alien Rulers were a thing.
This weekend, I downloaded a bunch of mods and tried to give it a whirl again. Most of my modlist (ignoring cosmetic stuff) below. Bolded stuff represents a marked difficulty spike.
A Better Advent 2
Grimy's Loot Mod, +PCS expansion, +Alien Rulers expansion
Cut Content: Ammo
Utility Slot Sidearms
Long War Laser Pack
Long War SMG Pack
Mod Everything
Tech Armor
Experimental Items Unlock
Escalation Classes
Long War Perk Pack
All The Classes! (de-conflicts the above two)
Gotcha (Flank Preview Evolved)
Steady Weapon Grenade Damage Falloff Stop, Drop, and Roll
Turrets have Bulwark
Smart Overwatch
Stabilize Me!
BleedOutMod Can't Execute Rulers
Rapid Reinforcements
VIPS can grab loot Explosions Destroy Corpses
Potentials
No Rank Up Throttling
Additional Proving Ground Engineer slot
Start Your Own Missions
Advanced Modular Weapons
Medkits Unlimited
(Various map packs)
Additional Dark Events DLC Dark Event - Rulers Regain HP
Additional Mission Types
I gotta say, it's great to be getting my ass kicked again.
wow. Cant execute rulers sounds like the literal worst thing.
I'm sure it will be, once I can actually get far enough to encounter a ruler.
For now, I'm 1) re-learning the game, and 2) reveling in the nostalgia of limping to the end of a barely-successful Gatecrasher, with one survivor at 1 HP. Feels just like old times. Reminds me of that night terror mission in Rio...
+1
Sirialisof the Halite Throne.Registered Userregular
edited December 2016
Played my first Multiplayer match in XCOM 2, tried to think of the worst possible team to face... And picked that as my team of course.
I picked 4 Codexes, 1 Advent Shieldbearer and a single Viper (leftover points)
My opponent had his Berserker hit my triple Codex overwatch, Shieldbearer promptly shielded everyone when his Archon did Flaming Pinions, yet all my forces moved before even getting struck by it.
Opponent ended up forfeiting near the end when his certain loss became obvious. He only had a Codex at 1 HP with no turns left (He double moved with it because of a Vortex) and a Viper that missed his grab attack and was exposed to a clear flanking opportunity for both my shieldbearer and one of my Codexes in the next turn.
That was fun.
In my first XCOM:EU MP match, I picked double snipers and scouts, opponent was using Thin Men and Mutons and proved a strong foe partially due to a bad map layout for sniping (Diner), he torched a car next to the snipers so I had to move and flushed all his troops in for the kill, I was sure to lose after my next turn I thought...
In.
The.
Fucking.
Zone.
My Sniper shot every single one of his aliens to death in that single turn because of In The Zone, opponent ragequitted and disconnected.
Sirialis on
+5
MortiousThe Nightmare BeginsMove to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
So I've decided to start this up over the holidays after not really playing it when it came out.
Apparently I have a bunch of DLC that I don't remeber buying?
It's quite fun. I enjoyed the Robot factory mission, running gun battles are great.
The ruler enemies are a bit more bullshit, since they only seem to appear in timed missions and that ruler reaction triggers off everything.
Kinda skirting the Avatar bar with one pip for most of the game, but c'est la vie.
So I finally got this game and it seems like the absolute platonic ideal of what a good sequel should be. I love that it addresses and weakens the overly dominant and boring strategies of the first.
I'm getting absolutely slaughtered on the third difficulty though. Whats the closest analog of each difficulty to the old game?
Also I'm reluctant to ask too many strategic questions but I do have one. In non timed stealth missions is it ever beneficial to try to get closer to the objective? Or should you just focus on using stealth to wipe the first patrol you meet with minimal cost ?
So I finally got this game and it seems like the absolute platonic ideal of what a good sequel should be. I love that it addresses and weakens the overly dominant and boring strategies of the first.
I'm getting absolutely slaughtered on the third difficulty though. Whats the closest analog of each difficulty to the old game?
Also I'm reluctant to ask too many strategic questions but I do have one. In non timed stealth missions is it ever beneficial to try to get closer to the objective? Or should you just focus on using stealth to wipe the first patrol you meet with minimal cost ?
Commander = XCOM:EU Classic
Always blow your stealth at the first good ambush opportunity; it is risky and stupid to try and stealth the whole mission because aliens start pathing towards you anyway, and in numbers that can be hard to deal with.
Your stealth ranger should remain cloaked and scouting so your snipers can bust some caps on unsuspecting xenos.
So I finally got this game and it seems like the absolute platonic ideal of what a good sequel should be. I love that it addresses and weakens the overly dominant and boring strategies of the first.
I'm getting absolutely slaughtered on the third difficulty though. Whats the closest analog of each difficulty to the old game?
Also I'm reluctant to ask too many strategic questions but I do have one. In non timed stealth missions is it ever beneficial to try to get closer to the objective? Or should you just focus on using stealth to wipe the first patrol you meet with minimal cost ?
Kill as many as you can while exposing yourself to as little risk as possible, using minimal resources. Time is on your side, make the perfect strike.
Or fuck up and panic, god knows it happens on legendary iron man too.
If you're forced to prioritize, minimize risk. Don't let the aliens retaliate to save some resources or whatever, if all you can get safely is two troopers for your squad reveal then cap two troopers real good.
Vic_Hazard on
+2
MortiousThe Nightmare BeginsMove to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
So I finally got this game and it seems like the absolute platonic ideal of what a good sequel should be. I love that it addresses and weakens the overly dominant and boring strategies of the first.
I'm getting absolutely slaughtered on the third difficulty though. Whats the closest analog of each difficulty to the old game?
Also I'm reluctant to ask too many strategic questions but I do have one. In non timed stealth missions is it ever beneficial to try to get closer to the objective? Or should you just focus on using stealth to wipe the first patrol you meet with minimal cost ?
Kill as many as you can while exposing yourself to as little risk as possible, using minimal resources. Time is on your side, make the perfect strike.
Or fuck up and panic, god knows it happens on legendary iron man too.
If you're forced to prioritize, minimize risk. Don't let the aliens retaliate to save some resources or whatever, if all you can get safely is two troopers for your squad reveal then cap two troopers real good.
Start your turn with a grenade, end your turn with a grenade.
The real key is that phantom lets you go faster by exposing forward positions on popped pods . This lets you effectively flank without risking popping more pods.
+1
MortiousThe Nightmare BeginsMove to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
So I've gotten a lot further in my X-COM2 playthrough than I have previously.
I think I have a pretty good chance at finishing this game if my current strategy* remains viable.
*Grenades. My "strategy" is lots of grenades. Sometimes rockets.
Yup, every time I play through XCOM 2 I always make a self-insert soldier, because I am a lame-o who isn't satisfied with being "merely" humanity's last hope as a tactical genius, I have to be a badass soldier who wades into battle all the time too. And 80% of the time that soldier is a Psi Trooper, because yeah, broken good.
(When he's not a Psi Trooper he's been a Grenadier, a Long War Gunner, or a Specialist)
0
AxenMy avatar is Excalibur.Yes, the sword.Registered Userregular
So I started replaying this after, well, a long ass time.
I loaded it up, did first couple of missions and was all, "Why are all these soldiers so bat shit crazy looking and why do they start with nicknames... wait, wait, wait. These are PA guys/gals! Oh man, this is going to be great."
I had forgotten about the PA pool name list. :razz:
A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
So I started replaying this after, well, a long ass time.
I loaded it up, did first couple of missions and was all, "Why are all these soldiers so bat shit crazy looking and why do they start with nicknames... wait, wait, wait. These are PA guys/gals! Oh man, this is going to be great."
I had forgotten about the PA pool name list. :razz:
I reinstalled the game on my new PC and downloaded the most up to date PA pack as well as my other custom soldiers (you know you can make custom SPARKs for your list? Last game I randomly built ME's Legion and Robocop's ED-209).
I still keep about half of my soldiers procedurally generated, because I like being able to promote my distinguished randoms into the character pool after they do something awesome.
On a non timed ambush mission you'll want to take your time and set up a great ambush
Don't ambush two groups unless you're really strong. Don't "waste" your ambush on a small or two person pod. If possible ambush from high ground to give yourself that nice 20 aim bonus
You can "wake up" a group youre ambushing with a grenade - this is especially nice with a fire acid or poison grenade since it will debuff the whole pod and guarantee damage. Otherwise you should wake up the pod by doing a high aim shot on a dangerous target like an officer or Muton
Hey, a kid took a lot of footage from Beagle's twitchstream foray into "The Bureau".
quick take is, Beagle likes it, but I don't think he kept up with its development hell like we had, or what it was to be way back before Enemy Unknown came out. I'll admit, what's there looks decent enough, but the squad AI is *SHIT*, especially for permadeath squaddies added in.
The parts that made me giddy or laugh out loud when I first heard them are 33:00 to 35:00, 55:30 to 58:00, and 1:00:00 to 1:03:40
Still, if you don't mind listening to the whole thing, Beagle has his own take on Carter's voice and mannerisms and its pretty funny throughout.
Hadn't played since break, decided to jump into an 'easy' mission.
It was an 'eliminate the npc' mission. Started concealed, didn't see anyone on the direct path. Once I picked him up, a pack landed behind me and i was surrounded on all sides. Party wipe. I'm not sure why the mission was rated easy at all. I guess i should be spending several turns sweeping the area before going to the objective?
On a non timed ambush mission you'll want to take your time and set up a great ambush
Don't ambush two groups unless you're really strong. Don't "waste" your ambush on a small or two person pod. If possible ambush from high ground to give yourself that nice 20 aim bonus
You can "wake up" a group youre ambushing with a grenade - this is especially nice with a fire acid or poison grenade since it will debuff the whole pod and guarantee damage. Otherwise you should wake up the pod by doing a high aim shot on a dangerous target like an officer or Muton
Don't forget the ever hilarious "phantom sighted kill zone" wake up.
Step 1: get vision on pod with phantom while rest of squad is currently exposed
Step 2: kill zone over pods location
Step 3: end turn
Step 3a: get sniper rifle reaction fire on every unit in the group as they move while in vision
Step 4: mop up with a full turn of actions on your turn.
This is stronger of course because you're likely to have special ammo on your sniper.
Hadn't played since break, decided to jump into an 'easy' mission.
It was an 'eliminate the npc' mission. Started concealed, didn't see anyone on the direct path. Once I picked him up, a pack landed behind me and i was surrounded on all sides. Party wipe. I'm not sure why the mission was rated easy at all. I guess i should be spending several turns sweeping the area before going to the objective?
Sometimes you just get screwed on xeno placement. That's XCOM, baby.
You KNOW the bad guys are out there; the further into the map you get without seeing anyone, the more you'll have to fight at once when they do get revealed. It may not be a bad idea to poke around a bit to try and find at least one pod before trying to make a run for the evac with your dark VIP.
On a non timed ambush mission you'll want to take your time and set up a great ambush
Don't ambush two groups unless you're really strong. Don't "waste" your ambush on a small or two person pod. If possible ambush from high ground to give yourself that nice 20 aim bonus
You can "wake up" a group youre ambushing with a grenade - this is especially nice with a fire acid or poison grenade since it will debuff the whole pod and guarantee damage. Otherwise you should wake up the pod by doing a high aim shot on a dangerous target like an officer or Muton
Don't forget the ever hilarious "phantom sighted kill zone" wake up.
Step 1: get vision on pod with phantom while rest of squad is currently exposed
Step 2: kill zone over pods location
Step 3: end turn
Step 3a: get sniper rifle reaction fire on every unit in the group as they move while in vision
Step 4: mop up with a full turn of actions on your turn.
This is stronger of course because you're likely to have special ammo on your sniper.
It can sometimes be to your advantage to run normal troopers through windows and stuff just to enable long watch ambushes
that would be a nice addition to your combat options. Since you hold the initiative during concealment, there should be an option to overwatch out of concealment, or voluntarily break concealment without needing to bust a window or running into alien vision. I'm sure that last one is an edge case, but better to have the option than not...
that would be a nice addition to your combat options. Since you hold the initiative during concealment, there should be an option to overwatch out of concealment, or voluntarily break concealment without needing to bust a window or running into alien vision. I'm sure that last one is an edge case, but better to have the option than not...
There is an option. It's called shooting something.
that would be a nice addition to your combat options. Since you hold the initiative during concealment, there should be an option to overwatch out of concealment, or voluntarily break concealment without needing to bust a window or running into alien vision. I'm sure that last one is an edge case, but better to have the option than not...
You could overwatch from concealment in beta versions of the game.
This proved to be waaaay too good in the devs eyes, so they made it so you couldn't.
Hey, a kid took a lot of footage from Beagle's twitchstream foray into "The Bureau".
quick take is, Beagle likes it, but I don't think he kept up with its development hell like we had, or what it was to be way back before Enemy Unknown came out. I'll admit, what's there looks decent enough, but the squad AI is *SHIT*, especially for permadeath squaddies added in.
The parts that made me giddy or laugh out loud when I first heard them are 33:00 to 35:00, 55:30 to 58:00, and 1:00:00 to 1:03:40
Still, if you don't mind listening to the whole thing, Beagle has his own take on Carter's voice and mannerisms and its pretty funny throughout.
I just finished this recently. It's really pretty good. I don't know that I had a ton of problems with the AI. I think I lost maybe 2 operatives the entire game. You really just have to stay on them and make sure they are doing what you want. It does create a real break in the action though so I can see how that would bother people.
0
MortiousThe Nightmare BeginsMove to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
When watching the Beagle videos, he seems to be able to tell how many enemies a unit will see/be seen before moving it to a location.
But I haven't noticed any indicators for that when playing?
When watching the Beagle videos, he seems to be able to tell how many enemies a unit will see/be seen before moving it to a location.
But I haven't noticed any indicators for that when playing?
The UI is neither good or explained (maybe it was in the tutorial) but if you look at the aliens themselves you will see an targeting icon if you can see that unit from the point where your cursor is.
Ideally you would want some sort of colored ray tracing from the location your cursor is to the aliens (yellow indicates an exposed alien, red indicates a covered, color of cover indicates your potential exoposure) but no one thought of that before the game went live so natch.
0
MortiousThe Nightmare BeginsMove to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
The last one I'm a bit worried about, because he's got the "shaken" debuff, but he's also got a shredder perk which is so good on a rapid fire shotgunner.
edit:
And done.
Finishing shot was a Squad Sight sniper shot across the map.
Posts
I've done the "Who needs Tygan" achievement twice now, using starter guns and gear on the final mission and the game keeps crashing in the cutscene of the ending on a specific point where it is looking at Central viewing a screen.
I dread doing the rest of my Ironman run if the stability of the game is like this, isnt this game over a year old by now? Yet it still stutters far too often and with an occasional crash even though it doesnt seem to be a demanding game if it was actually coded decently.
EDIT: 3rd time crashing on the exact same spot during cutscene, I guess the rest of the achievements are unobtainable right now since the game doesnt seem able to handle winning the Final Mission, great job Firaxis, I really needed that shitty My2K implementation patch instead of the game actually working.
Nintendo ID: Pastalonius
Smite\LoL:Gremlidin \ WoW & Overwatch & Hots: Gremlidin#1734
3ds: 3282-2248-0453
There are a bunch of missions that arent timed, like crucial story missions, Alien Bases, Raiding Supply Trains, UFO's (To an extent)
All the "Protect the Device" "Hack this Device" "Escort the VIP" etc. missions are timed though.
Reverted to a save a few turns further back.
If you don't want timers, play XCOM:EU. Also a great game, with very few timed missions.
The sequel is specifically addressing complaints about the lack of urgency in most missions from its predecessor.
This weekend, I downloaded a bunch of mods and tried to give it a whirl again. Most of my modlist (ignoring cosmetic stuff) below. Bolded stuff represents a marked difficulty spike.
Grimy's Loot Mod, +PCS expansion, +Alien Rulers expansion
Cut Content: Ammo
Utility Slot Sidearms
Long War Laser Pack
Long War SMG Pack
Mod Everything
Tech Armor
Experimental Items Unlock
Escalation Classes
Long War Perk Pack
All The Classes! (de-conflicts the above two)
Gotcha (Flank Preview Evolved)
Steady Weapon
Grenade Damage Falloff
Stop, Drop, and Roll
Turrets have Bulwark
Smart Overwatch
Stabilize Me!
BleedOutMod
Can't Execute Rulers
Rapid Reinforcements
VIPS can grab loot
Explosions Destroy Corpses
Potentials
No Rank Up Throttling
Additional Proving Ground Engineer slot
Start Your Own Missions
Advanced Modular Weapons
Medkits Unlimited
(Various map packs)
Additional Dark Events
DLC Dark Event - Rulers Regain HP
Additional Mission Types
I gotta say, it's great to be getting my ass kicked again.
I'm sure it will be, once I can actually get far enough to encounter a ruler.
For now, I'm 1) re-learning the game, and 2) reveling in the nostalgia of limping to the end of a barely-successful Gatecrasher, with one survivor at 1 HP. Feels just like old times. Reminds me of that night terror mission in Rio...
I picked 4 Codexes, 1 Advent Shieldbearer and a single Viper (leftover points)
My opponent had his Berserker hit my triple Codex overwatch, Shieldbearer promptly shielded everyone when his Archon did Flaming Pinions, yet all my forces moved before even getting struck by it.
Opponent ended up forfeiting near the end when his certain loss became obvious. He only had a Codex at 1 HP with no turns left (He double moved with it because of a Vortex) and a Viper that missed his grab attack and was exposed to a clear flanking opportunity for both my shieldbearer and one of my Codexes in the next turn.
That was fun.
In my first XCOM:EU MP match, I picked double snipers and scouts, opponent was using Thin Men and Mutons and proved a strong foe partially due to a bad map layout for sniping (Diner), he torched a car next to the snipers so I had to move and flushed all his troops in for the kill, I was sure to lose after my next turn I thought...
In.
The.
Fucking.
Zone.
My Sniper shot every single one of his aliens to death in that single turn because of In The Zone, opponent ragequitted and disconnected.
Apparently I have a bunch of DLC that I don't remeber buying?
It's quite fun. I enjoyed the Robot factory mission, running gun battles are great.
The ruler enemies are a bit more bullshit, since they only seem to appear in timed missions and that ruler reaction triggers off everything.
Kinda skirting the Avatar bar with one pip for most of the game, but c'est la vie.
It’s not a very important country most of the time
http://steamcommunity.com/id/mortious
I'm getting absolutely slaughtered on the third difficulty though. Whats the closest analog of each difficulty to the old game?
Also I'm reluctant to ask too many strategic questions but I do have one. In non timed stealth missions is it ever beneficial to try to get closer to the objective? Or should you just focus on using stealth to wipe the first patrol you meet with minimal cost ?
https://medium.com/@alascii
Always blow your stealth at the first good ambush opportunity; it is risky and stupid to try and stealth the whole mission because aliens start pathing towards you anyway, and in numbers that can be hard to deal with.
Your stealth ranger should remain cloaked and scouting so your snipers can bust some caps on unsuspecting xenos.
Kill as many as you can while exposing yourself to as little risk as possible, using minimal resources. Time is on your side, make the perfect strike.
Or fuck up and panic, god knows it happens on legendary iron man too.
If you're forced to prioritize, minimize risk. Don't let the aliens retaliate to save some resources or whatever, if all you can get safely is two troopers for your squad reveal then cap two troopers real good.
Start your turn with a grenade, end your turn with a grenade.
It’s not a very important country most of the time
http://steamcommunity.com/id/mortious
I think I have a pretty good chance at finishing this game if my current strategy* remains viable.
*Grenades. My "strategy" is lots of grenades. Sometimes rockets.
It’s not a very important country most of the time
http://steamcommunity.com/id/mortious
Some of the other squad compositions can theoretically do more damage, but the stock game doesn't throw enough enemies at you for it to really matter.
(When he's not a Psi Trooper he's been a Grenadier, a Long War Gunner, or a Specialist)
I loaded it up, did first couple of missions and was all, "Why are all these soldiers so bat shit crazy looking and why do they start with nicknames... wait, wait, wait. These are PA guys/gals! Oh man, this is going to be great."
I had forgotten about the PA pool name list. :razz:
I reinstalled the game on my new PC and downloaded the most up to date PA pack as well as my other custom soldiers (you know you can make custom SPARKs for your list? Last game I randomly built ME's Legion and Robocop's ED-209).
I still keep about half of my soldiers procedurally generated, because I like being able to promote my distinguished randoms into the character pool after they do something awesome.
Don't ambush two groups unless you're really strong. Don't "waste" your ambush on a small or two person pod. If possible ambush from high ground to give yourself that nice 20 aim bonus
You can "wake up" a group youre ambushing with a grenade - this is especially nice with a fire acid or poison grenade since it will debuff the whole pod and guarantee damage. Otherwise you should wake up the pod by doing a high aim shot on a dangerous target like an officer or Muton
quick take is, Beagle likes it, but I don't think he kept up with its development hell like we had, or what it was to be way back before Enemy Unknown came out. I'll admit, what's there looks decent enough, but the squad AI is *SHIT*, especially for permadeath squaddies added in.
The parts that made me giddy or laugh out loud when I first heard them are 33:00 to 35:00, 55:30 to 58:00, and 1:00:00 to 1:03:40
Still, if you don't mind listening to the whole thing, Beagle has his own take on Carter's voice and mannerisms and its pretty funny throughout.
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
It was an 'eliminate the npc' mission. Started concealed, didn't see anyone on the direct path. Once I picked him up, a pack landed behind me and i was surrounded on all sides. Party wipe. I'm not sure why the mission was rated easy at all. I guess i should be spending several turns sweeping the area before going to the objective?
Nintendo ID: Pastalonius
Smite\LoL:Gremlidin \ WoW & Overwatch & Hots: Gremlidin#1734
3ds: 3282-2248-0453
Don't forget the ever hilarious "phantom sighted kill zone" wake up.
Step 1: get vision on pod with phantom while rest of squad is currently exposed
Step 2: kill zone over pods location
Step 3: end turn
Step 3a: get sniper rifle reaction fire on every unit in the group as they move while in vision
Step 4: mop up with a full turn of actions on your turn.
This is stronger of course because you're likely to have special ammo on your sniper.
Sometimes you just get screwed on xeno placement. That's XCOM, baby.
You KNOW the bad guys are out there; the further into the map you get without seeing anyone, the more you'll have to fight at once when they do get revealed. It may not be a bad idea to poke around a bit to try and find at least one pod before trying to make a run for the evac with your dark VIP.
But... not always an option. XCOM, Q.E.D.
It can sometimes be to your advantage to run normal troopers through windows and stuff just to enable long watch ambushes
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
There is an option. It's called shooting something.
This proved to be waaaay too good in the devs eyes, so they made it so you couldn't.
I just finished this recently. It's really pretty good. I don't know that I had a ton of problems with the AI. I think I lost maybe 2 operatives the entire game. You really just have to stay on them and make sure they are doing what you want. It does create a real break in the action though so I can see how that would bother people.
But I haven't noticed any indicators for that when playing?
It’s not a very important country most of the time
http://steamcommunity.com/id/mortious
The UI is neither good or explained (maybe it was in the tutorial) but if you look at the aliens themselves you will see an targeting icon if you can see that unit from the point where your cursor is.
Ideally you would want some sort of colored ray tracing from the location your cursor is to the aliens (yellow indicates an exposed alien, red indicates a covered, color of cover indicates your potential exoposure) but no one thought of that before the game went live so natch.
2 psionic troppers
2 Heavy gunner Grenadiers
1 gunslinger Sniper
1 Shotgun ranger
The last one I'm a bit worried about, because he's got the "shaken" debuff, but he's also got a shredder perk which is so good on a rapid fire shotgunner.
edit:
And done.
Finishing shot was a Squad Sight sniper shot across the map.
It’s not a very important country most of the time
http://steamcommunity.com/id/mortious