Thanks for the advice on dealing with rulers, haven't seen any since that first mission to test it out tho. So should I be building one of every room in the avenger?
Labs you can take or leave. I never bothered with the defence turrets, but I hear it might be worth it this time around. Workshops depend on your engineer situation, but there's usually something better. Everything else is vital for one reason or another.
Thanks for the advice on dealing with rulers, haven't seen any since that first mission to test it out tho. So should I be building one of every room in the avenger?
Labs you can take or leave. I never bothered with the defence turrets, but I hear it might be worth it this time around. Workshops depend on your engineer situation, but there's usually something better. Everything else is vital for one reason or another.
I am swimming in Engineers. I have more than I have Engineer slots. Nine. In September.
Yeah, some games you're building things just to get rid of that unassigned engineers notification. I've had games where it's taken me months to get a third one, though.
yea, im sitting on 4 engineers just beginning june. thank god for the -50% excavation order i have. If I don't get some more engineers soon, I'm gonna have to build a workshop for one of my power room and radio room.
I am hurting on rooms because my power coils were just about as far as could be from the starting room, and I'm OCD about putting a power room on a power coil.
Since there is so much new breakthrough tech and inspirations in the research area, I built the GTS first, then a laboratory. I've been able to take on every breakthrough that's come my way and I still got mag weapons by april and plate armor by mid may. But I also have all the story research, psionics, and radio tech done to the first blacksite and I just got to spend two weeks on about 10 autopsies.
with all the new stuff in the game, its been pretty fucking High Tempo. about 9 missions before June, africa and south america are contacted and radio'd and I'm about to move into north america for the skirmisher headquarters.
I've only fought two chosen so far.
FUCK. THAT. Assassin. She's never appeared in an environment that was mostly one level. Always in a large city environment with non destructible flooring, so I *have* to figure out where she was and hole up in a spot that is relatively open. Thank god for Reapers man... they are the only ones I feel confident enough in sending out to range and figure out where the assassin is. It'd be easier if she wasn't immune to explosives, but I still gotta burn one to remove the wall she hides behind when I find her.
The warlock, I haven't been too impressed with so far. He's only a problem on retaliations with resistance fighters because they shoot EVERYTHING.
You fucking nobs, DO NOT SHOOT AT MY MC'D SOLDIERS. DO NOT SHOOT AT THE SPECTRAL ZOMBIE THAT IS ABOUT TO FUCKING EXPLODE ON MY SOLDIERS.
STOP SHOOTING AT HIM AND GIVING HIM SHIELD BECAUSE YOU CAN'T HIT THE GROUND WITH YOUR SHOTS.
other than that, he's a cake walk, even with summoning advent from time to time...
Thanks for the advice on dealing with rulers, haven't seen any since that first mission to test it out tho. So should I be building one of every room in the avenger?
Labs you can take or leave. I never bothered with the defence turrets, but I hear it might be worth it this time around. Workshops depend on your engineer situation, but there's usually something better. Everything else is vital for one reason or another.
I am swimming in Engineers. I have more than I have Engineer slots. Nine. In September.
Holy christ, really? I'm scrabbling desperately for engineers. I've had to do a workshop to keep the resistance comms and power relay staffed to keep stuff going. I've managed to scrounge together five from covert ops and a couple prizes from missions.
I am hurting on rooms because my power coils were just about as far as could be from the starting room, and I'm OCD about putting a power room on a power coil.
Note that the Resistance Comms, when upgraded, uses 7 power, meaning it's just as effective to put one of those on a power coil as a power relay, and in fact can save you build time. Additionally, the Psi Lab and the Shadow Chamber, when upgraded, use even MORE power (10 each I think), which makes them MORE efficient than a power conduit... though they come significantly later.
A power conduit on a regular room is perfectly acceptable.
+4
Orphanerivers of redthat run to seaRegistered Userregular
Well, i just gloriously splashed the Berserker Queen in a wombo combo of a shotgun talon rounded Rupture, 2 claymores (1 homing, one thrown at her feet), and 2 heavy cannon overwatches
Then the game froze during overwatch animations because i had a Plasma caster overwatch lined up in case all that wasn't enough and i didn't have an autosave for that mission because the game is wildly inconsistent about autosaves
Oh well, i'll just have to do it again
P.s. reapers are fuggin op for ambush, one mission earlier i assassinated the Warlock by using a homing claymore + banish because my reaper with like 17 mobility was already on the Chosen's side of the map
When you use characters from you character pool will they show up as the class you assigned them or is it still up to random chance? I've started playing my new game and so far most of my characters that start as rookies don't level into their assigned class when they reach squaddie.
yea, im sitting on 4 engineers just beginning june. thank god for the -50% excavation order i have. If I don't get some more engineers soon, I'm gonna have to build a workshop for one of my power room and radio room.
I am hurting on rooms because my power coils were just about as far as could be from the starting room, and I'm OCD about putting a power room on a power coil.
Since there is so much new breakthrough tech and inspirations in the research area, I built the GTS first, then a laboratory. I've been able to take on every breakthrough that's come my way and I still got mag weapons by april and plate armor by mid may. But I also have all the story research, psionics, and radio tech done to the first blacksite and I just got to spend two weeks on about 10 autopsies.
with all the new stuff in the game, its been pretty fucking High Tempo. about 9 missions before June, africa and south america are contacted and radio'd and I'm about to move into north america for the skirmisher headquarters.
I've only fought two chosen so far.
FUCK. THAT. Assassin. She's never appeared in an environment that was mostly one level. Always in a large city environment with non destructible flooring, so I *have* to figure out where she was and hole up in a spot that is relatively open. Thank god for Reapers man... they are the only ones I feel confident enough in sending out to range and figure out where the assassin is. It'd be easier if she wasn't immune to explosives, but I still gotta burn one to remove the wall she hides behind when I find her.
The warlock, I haven't been too impressed with so far. He's only a problem on retaliations with resistance fighters because they shoot EVERYTHING.
You fucking nobs, DO NOT SHOOT AT MY MC'D SOLDIERS. DO NOT SHOOT AT THE SPECTRAL ZOMBIE THAT IS ABOUT TO FUCKING EXPLODE ON MY SOLDIERS.
STOP SHOOTING AT HIM AND GIVING HIM SHIELD BECAUSE YOU CAN'T HIT THE GROUND WITH YOUR SHOTS.
other than that, he's a cake walk, even with summoning advent from time to time...
My Warlock has teleport-on-damage and increased defense after the first attack, so we had a completely wild battle at a Resistance Haven where I barely had any good attack percentages, but I was able to use guaranteed damage (grenades, psi, Rend, and the Assassin's katana) to make him teleport over and over.
I ended today just as we entered his chamber for a repeat performance.
The new classes all having their own weapons and associated upgrades mean that I will never not research plated armor before mag weapons now. Lets see, I could get this tech that gives me rifles, shotguns and bullpups as separate engineering projects, then another research project to unlock cannons, sniper rifles and Vektors, or I could research armor that everyone can use off the bat with one engineering project, and also unlock the Templar's gauntlet upgrade as a side benefit. Its just a total no-brainer.
When you use characters from you character pool will they show up as the class you assigned them or is it still up to random chance? I've started playing my new game and so far most of my characters that start as rookies don't level into their assigned class when they reach squaddie.
If you get them as rookies they randomly assign on level-up. If you get them from an event, they'll have their assigned class.
I dunno, the game has always been weighted towards killing them before they kill you, so weapon tech is strong. That said, plated gives you EXOs and their rocket launchers, so it probably balances out.
I dunno, the game has always been weighted towards killing them before they kill you, so weapon tech is strong. That said, plated gives you EXOs and their rocket launchers, so it probably balances out.
I mean it is, but I think some people overestimate the value of alpha striking. Yes its always best to take out a pod before they get a chance to do anything if you can, but its not always an option based on the enemy's hp, position and your available gear. Sometimes you have to leave two flash-banged troopers alive, and those troopers can and will still crit you through full cover occasionally, because they're bastards. I find that most of my deaths in a campaign happen early-game when my dudes can still be one-shot, knowing that I can take a hit if worst comes to worst enables me to take riskier moves and even *gasp* use low cover on occasion if I really need to. Because upgraded or not, a shotgun flank is still going to ruin just about anything's day.
I know that ideally you should be trying not to get hit in the first place, but hope for the best, plan for the worst and all that.
So is there anyway to have more than 1 each of the Hero classes? What happens if one of them dies?
Uhh well...
You can definitely recruit more of them through a specific Covert Op for each faction. It seems pretty rare though, but having not lost any of them I can't tell you whether those missions get more common if you lose a Hero.
Downed the Warlock tonight, combined with the dead Assassin that leaves just the Hunter, who really hasn't been much of a bother to me. Last time I ran into him, he managed to just about kill himself on my overwatch shots alone. I almost feel bad for him.
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Zxerolfor the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't doso i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered Userregular
So I found out that the Chosen have lines specific to Jane Kelly when they do Rude Alien Shit involving her.
Whoop. Forgot about the huge aim decrease in the jump from Veteran to Commander. RIP Specialist, after missing a 75% flanked shot on a Advent Trooper, leaving himself flanked, on just the SECOND mission. (And the damn hack bonus was a permanent +20 to hacking too, goddammit.)
So I just heard that the chosen talk shit about you during missions when they show up? How frequent is it? Is it as bad as Handsome Jack where they never shut the fuck up and you just want to shut the game off rather than listen to them blather on any more?
So I just heard that the chosen talk shit about you during missions when they show up? How frequent is it? Is it as bad as Handsome Jack where they never shut the fuck up and you just want to shut the game off rather than listen to them blather on any more?
They actually have a huge number of lines, tailored to what is currently happening. Like the Warlock was super pissed that Zero was running around with his sister's sword.
Getting into the endgame, it sort of feels like the Reaper/Templar/Skirmisher taper off a lot at higher ranks. Now that I've got my Serial Sharpshooter and Rapid Fire Ranger, the mediocre base damage of the Hero weapons is really showing. And since their inventories are so much more limited, I can't boost with things like special ammo on the Reaper, and I can't put them in an EXO Suit either. Anyone else feel like this? It could be that I'm just not using them to the best of their ability. I mean the Reaper is still great as a scout, and the Templar still does pretty solid damage, especially with max Focus. It just seems like they're only about on par with my regular Colonels, not the uber-tier they are when they first show up.
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Orphanerivers of redthat run to seaRegistered Userregular
edited September 2017
Downed both Warlock and Hunter today
The Disruptor rifle seems alright though i'm disappointed there wasn't like a psi amp to loot
Obviously the Darklance is sweet, but the Darkclaw pistol the Hunter drops, like the Katana, ignores up to 5 armor which is a huge help for a gunslinger sharpshooter since they can use regular ammo and still put the hurt on armored targets instead of having to use ap rounds against those pesky sectopods/andromedons/gatekeepers
Orphane on
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mastertheheroProfessional Video Editor & Book AuthorRegistered Userregular
Getting into the endgame, it sort of feels like the Reaper/Templar/Skirmisher taper off a lot at higher ranks. Now that I've got my Serial Sharpshooter and Rapid Fire Ranger, the mediocre base damage of the Hero weapons is really showing. And since their inventories are so much more limited, I can't boost with things like special ammo on the Reaper, and I can't put them in an EXO Suit either. Anyone else feel like this? It could be that I'm just not using them to the best of their ability. I mean the Reaper is still great as a scout, and the Templar still does pretty solid damage, especially with max Focus. It just seems like they're only about on par with my regular Colonels, not the uber-tier they are when they first show up.
You should try the Claymore build for Reapers. At Colonel you get Homing Mine, which combined with Shrapnel let me destroy a Gatekeeper+Elite Priestx2 pod without an alert.
Video game movies never work, but I really, really wish that there was a TV series based on XCOM. The main character would of course be Jane Kelly. The universe just feels like it has so much episodic potential. Start the series off a few months before the Commander gets rescued, with Kelly getting recruited. Show her going from regular person cheerfully living under alien rule to nervous and reluctant resistance fighter to very highly engaged resistance fighter to bitter, cynical resistance fighter as the supporting cast cycles around her fairly rapidly. Bradford, Shen, etc, stick around, but the average life span of people in combat around her is about two missions.
Also, she's a Ranger, so the season one finale can have a sword duel with the assassin.
Shadowhope on
Civics is not a consumer product that you can ignore because you don’t like the options presented.
Getting into the endgame, it sort of feels like the Reaper/Templar/Skirmisher taper off a lot at higher ranks. Now that I've got my Serial Sharpshooter and Rapid Fire Ranger, the mediocre base damage of the Hero weapons is really showing. And since their inventories are so much more limited, I can't boost with things like special ammo on the Reaper, and I can't put them in an EXO Suit either. Anyone else feel like this? It could be that I'm just not using them to the best of their ability. I mean the Reaper is still great as a scout, and the Templar still does pretty solid damage, especially with max Focus. It just seems like they're only about on par with my regular Colonels, not the uber-tier they are when they first show up.
I agree. The Reaper was pretty much the only class I felt added something to my late-game team, kitted out with WAR Suits and Blaster Launchers. Skirmishers shooting twice did nothing for me, not when you can just annihilate pods so rapidly with explosives, and, like I said before, the Templar was more a liability to pull extra pods than anything. The Chosen weapons and the extra Training Centre abilities has made your standard units even more powerful in the late-game too.
I think my preferred late-game squad would probably be a Reaper, two Sharpshooters each with one Hunter weapon and Bluescreen Rounds, Specialist with Warlock weapon, Grenadier, and Psi-Operative, preferably all in WAR Suits with Blaster Launchers (maybe I keep the Specialist in Warden Armor for Nanomedkit + Skulljack), at least on anything but the sewer maps. Absolute devastation from long-range with height advantage, and more than enough explosives and AoE effects (2 Claymores, 4 Blaster Launchers, 3 Plasma Grenades, one set of psi-abilities) to account for any other situation/tactical error. It's an almost entirely risk-free party with enough destructive power to obliterate two, maybe three pods at once. There's nothing in there I'd sub out for a Skirmisher or Templar.
Skirmishers shooting twice is interesting and all, but you generally don't want to be in a position in which the Skirmisher is in close-enough range to shoot at the start of their turn without moving, because it means the aliens got reeal close to you on their turn somehow. (And are probably behind high cover.) You could Wrath or Grapple forward, but that can be risky, and they have pretty awful timers. And in exchange, their two shots do about as much damage as a single Sharpshooter shot. Ehh.
Templars have the same problem. Risky pull factor to use effectively. And they're pretty limited in actual damage output per turn, short of using Ionic Storm. Ghost is cool, boosting their damage and actions while it lasts, but again, just don't do enough PEW PEW to be keep up in the late game. Templars, in particular, suffer from action economy and defensive skills: they have a ton of cool powers, but not enough moves per turn/focus to use them effectively, and they've got a lot of good defensive abilities, when you don't want to be shot at all. (Apparently, Stun Strike is a blue move though, so I'm gonna try that out. Also, bonding a Templar is great. Give them mobility buffs, and then they can donate their extra blue action to someone else!)
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Orphanerivers of redthat run to seaRegistered Userregular
Getting into the endgame, it sort of feels like the Reaper/Templar/Skirmisher taper off a lot at higher ranks. Now that I've got my Serial Sharpshooter and Rapid Fire Ranger, the mediocre base damage of the Hero weapons is really showing. And since their inventories are so much more limited, I can't boost with things like special ammo on the Reaper, and I can't put them in an EXO Suit either. Anyone else feel like this? It could be that I'm just not using them to the best of their ability. I mean the Reaper is still great as a scout, and the Templar still does pretty solid damage, especially with max Focus. It just seems like they're only about on par with my regular Colonels, not the uber-tier they are when they first show up.
I feel like it's more like the other classes catch up to the power level because of the various additional skills they can learn in the training center + being able to learn skills on both skill trees instead of picking just one in addition to the armors and loadouts giving additional flexibility
Meanwhile the 3 hero classes start off with full, ridiculous kits. Reapers and Skirmishers can get tactical rigging, which means they can equip ammo, and their unique features still make them very viable endgame imo - Reapers with modded out rifles for expanded magazines can take out a sectopod with a homing mine + banish easily, and with mobility PCS or covert boosts can cover ridiculous amounts of ground for scouting. Homing mine is ridiculously good for setting up ambushes, and Reapers can also learn Shredder which makes them that much more effective. skirmishers can control the battlefield really well with all the ripjack skills, and they can, if positioned in range, fire twice in a turn and attack with Whiplash, which is like a Ranger with the Hunter Axe throw. They also have access to unique overwatch capability which is also pretty crazy (they also have inbuilt grappling hook!). Templars are obviously really specialized melee, but they still learn some pretty amazing skills like the swap skills and Amplify, which still help them work with the team even if they can't run in and hack everyone to death.
+2
Zxerolfor the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't doso i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered Userregular
The new classes all having their own weapons and associated upgrades mean that I will never not research plated armor before mag weapons now. Lets see, I could get this tech that gives me rifles, shotguns and bullpups as separate engineering projects, then another research project to unlock cannons, sniper rifles and Vektors, or I could research armor that everyone can use off the bat with one engineering project, and also unlock the Templar's gauntlet upgrade as a side benefit. Its just a total no-brainer.
yea, that is the one thing that kinda peeves me is that I research the tech, and I get rifles and shotguns, and pistols, but then I gotta research *again* for the grenadier and sniper variant.
Not to mention buying each weapon class individually.
I dunno. there has to be something in between a blanket one time fuck off expensive purchase and being nickel and dime'd for classes weapons or just straight out purchasing individual weapons for each soldier. But nah, everyone uses armor so that's all one purchase save the warframes and suits.
Maybe do all xcom weapons and all hero class weapons as purchases.
Video game movies never work, but I really, really wish that there was a TV series based on XCOM. The main character would of course be Jane Kelly. The universe just feels like it has so much episodic potential. Start the series off a few months before the Commander gets rescued, with Kelly getting recruited. Show her going from regular person cheerfully living under alien rule to nervous and reluctant resistance fighter to very highly engaged resistance fighter to bitter, cynical resistance fighter as the supporting cast cycles around her fairly rapidly. Bradford, Shen, etc, stick around, but the average life span of people in combat around her is about missions.
Also, she's a Ranger, so the season one finale can have a sword duel with the assassin.
Video game movies never work because directors and producers can never not write about the backstory and they must cram 60hours of built of lore into a 2hour show and they hurt for it. But yes, a tv show would lend itself well to XCOM, or even a miniseries like Band of Brothers... or yes... ten 1hour episodes al la game of thrones season format. Stargate SG-1 is damn near XCOM, just switch out the gate with Firebrand and its pretty much XCOM WotC with enemy defector and always running the "A Team" in the first seasons of the show.
I would say break it into four seasons, *maybe* five. Like the comic, Walking Dead is just a never ending thing and I just cannot care for that show anymore, or the comic. Game of Thrones is just about at that point for me now as well, especially with HBO telling GRR basically fuck off, you are taking too long to write the books, we got this, we want our money making machine to keep going while there is still money to be made.
At least with five seasons of XCOM you have a definite beginning and end point.
Video game movies never work, but I really, really wish that there was a TV series based on XCOM. The main character would of course be Jane Kelly. The universe just feels like it has so much episodic potential. Start the series off a few months before the Commander gets rescued, with Kelly getting recruited. Show her going from regular person cheerfully living under alien rule to nervous and reluctant resistance fighter to very highly engaged resistance fighter to bitter, cynical resistance fighter as the supporting cast cycles around her fairly rapidly. Bradford, Shen, etc, stick around, but the average life span of people in combat around her is about missions.
Also, she's a Ranger, so the season one finale can have a sword duel with the assassin.
Hey, just make XCOM: Tour of Duty. You always knew who was going to die in the old Tour of Duty because it was the new guy on the squad. I swear that company had the highest turnover rate in Vietnam.
Only problem with a TV show is that the xenos would take a ridiculous amount of special effects, so you may just want to just pull a Clone Wars and just do full CGI, so you can more easily model the xenos in the environment. I seem to recall that there was a Starship Troopers CGI series awhile back that ran a couple seasons.
+3
Zxerolfor the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't doso i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered Userregular
Yo did you know the original X-Com took great inspiration from a 70s ass British series?
Posts
Labs you can take or leave. I never bothered with the defence turrets, but I hear it might be worth it this time around. Workshops depend on your engineer situation, but there's usually something better. Everything else is vital for one reason or another.
I am swimming in Engineers. I have more than I have Engineer slots. Nine. In September.
I am hurting on rooms because my power coils were just about as far as could be from the starting room, and I'm OCD about putting a power room on a power coil.
Since there is so much new breakthrough tech and inspirations in the research area, I built the GTS first, then a laboratory. I've been able to take on every breakthrough that's come my way and I still got mag weapons by april and plate armor by mid may. But I also have all the story research, psionics, and radio tech done to the first blacksite and I just got to spend two weeks on about 10 autopsies.
with all the new stuff in the game, its been pretty fucking High Tempo. about 9 missions before June, africa and south america are contacted and radio'd and I'm about to move into north america for the skirmisher headquarters.
I've only fought two chosen so far.
FUCK. THAT. Assassin. She's never appeared in an environment that was mostly one level. Always in a large city environment with non destructible flooring, so I *have* to figure out where she was and hole up in a spot that is relatively open. Thank god for Reapers man... they are the only ones I feel confident enough in sending out to range and figure out where the assassin is. It'd be easier if she wasn't immune to explosives, but I still gotta burn one to remove the wall she hides behind when I find her.
The warlock, I haven't been too impressed with so far. He's only a problem on retaliations with resistance fighters because they shoot EVERYTHING.
You fucking nobs, DO NOT SHOOT AT MY MC'D SOLDIERS. DO NOT SHOOT AT THE SPECTRAL ZOMBIE THAT IS ABOUT TO FUCKING EXPLODE ON MY SOLDIERS.
STOP SHOOTING AT HIM AND GIVING HIM SHIELD BECAUSE YOU CAN'T HIT THE GROUND WITH YOUR SHOTS.
other than that, he's a cake walk, even with summoning advent from time to time...
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
Holy christ, really? I'm scrabbling desperately for engineers. I've had to do a workshop to keep the resistance comms and power relay staffed to keep stuff going. I've managed to scrounge together five from covert ops and a couple prizes from missions.
Note that the Resistance Comms, when upgraded, uses 7 power, meaning it's just as effective to put one of those on a power coil as a power relay, and in fact can save you build time. Additionally, the Psi Lab and the Shadow Chamber, when upgraded, use even MORE power (10 each I think), which makes them MORE efficient than a power conduit... though they come significantly later.
A power conduit on a regular room is perfectly acceptable.
Then the game froze during overwatch animations because i had a Plasma caster overwatch lined up in case all that wasn't enough and i didn't have an autosave for that mission because the game is wildly inconsistent about autosaves
Oh well, i'll just have to do it again
P.s. reapers are fuggin op for ambush, one mission earlier i assassinated the Warlock by using a homing claymore + banish because my reaper with like 17 mobility was already on the Chosen's side of the map
That battle though was intense but fun. Minus the bug that hampered my progress.
As expansions go, this war of chosen stands as one of the best.
Workshops might be a bit better if you're strangled for engineers like I am
There's a lot more useful places to put an engi so I can barely expand
My Warlock has teleport-on-damage and increased defense after the first attack, so we had a completely wild battle at a Resistance Haven where I barely had any good attack percentages, but I was able to use guaranteed damage (grenades, psi, Rend, and the Assassin's katana) to make him teleport over and over.
I ended today just as we entered his chamber for a repeat performance.
If you get them as rookies they randomly assign on level-up. If you get them from an event, they'll have their assigned class.
Mmmmmm.
That sword/shotgun you get as a reward for a certain very difficult mission?
Jane Kelly is become Death.
That combo is god mode for rangers, and single-handedly makes the Reaper skill amazing.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
I mean it is, but I think some people overestimate the value of alpha striking. Yes its always best to take out a pod before they get a chance to do anything if you can, but its not always an option based on the enemy's hp, position and your available gear. Sometimes you have to leave two flash-banged troopers alive, and those troopers can and will still crit you through full cover occasionally, because they're bastards. I find that most of my deaths in a campaign happen early-game when my dudes can still be one-shot, knowing that I can take a hit if worst comes to worst enables me to take riskier moves and even *gasp* use low cover on occasion if I really need to. Because upgraded or not, a shotgun flank is still going to ruin just about anything's day.
I know that ideally you should be trying not to get hit in the first place, but hope for the best, plan for the worst and all that.
Yes you can have more than 1. There will be Covert Actions recruiting a reaper/skirmisher/templar as a reward
PSN: Robo_Wizard1
Uhh well...
Downed the Warlock tonight, combined with the dead Assassin that leaves just the Hunter, who really hasn't been much of a bother to me. Last time I ran into him, he managed to just about kill himself on my overwatch shots alone. I almost feel bad for him.
This is the greatest expansion.
Hmm, Ive downed the Assassin and am currently researching plasma shotguns. Never seen that mission. Maybe i just didnt recognize it.
They actually have a huge number of lines, tailored to what is currently happening. Like the Warlock was super pissed that Zero was running around with his sister's sword.
The Disruptor rifle seems alright though i'm disappointed there wasn't like a psi amp to loot
Obviously the Darklance is sweet, but the Darkclaw pistol the Hunter drops, like the Katana, ignores up to 5 armor which is a huge help for a gunslinger sharpshooter since they can use regular ammo and still put the hurt on armored targets instead of having to use ap rounds against those pesky sectopods/andromedons/gatekeepers
What do they say? I unfortunately killed all the chosen and didn't have Jane Kelly with me. So I never heard any of the lines.
You should try the Claymore build for Reapers. At Colonel you get Homing Mine, which combined with Shrapnel let me destroy a Gatekeeper+Elite Priestx2 pod without an alert.
Steam: CavilatRest
Also, she's a Ranger, so the season one finale can have a sword duel with the assassin.
I agree. The Reaper was pretty much the only class I felt added something to my late-game team, kitted out with WAR Suits and Blaster Launchers. Skirmishers shooting twice did nothing for me, not when you can just annihilate pods so rapidly with explosives, and, like I said before, the Templar was more a liability to pull extra pods than anything. The Chosen weapons and the extra Training Centre abilities has made your standard units even more powerful in the late-game too.
I think my preferred late-game squad would probably be a Reaper, two Sharpshooters each with one Hunter weapon and Bluescreen Rounds, Specialist with Warlock weapon, Grenadier, and Psi-Operative, preferably all in WAR Suits with Blaster Launchers (maybe I keep the Specialist in Warden Armor for Nanomedkit + Skulljack), at least on anything but the sewer maps. Absolute devastation from long-range with height advantage, and more than enough explosives and AoE effects (2 Claymores, 4 Blaster Launchers, 3 Plasma Grenades, one set of psi-abilities) to account for any other situation/tactical error. It's an almost entirely risk-free party with enough destructive power to obliterate two, maybe three pods at once. There's nothing in there I'd sub out for a Skirmisher or Templar.
Skirmishers shooting twice is interesting and all, but you generally don't want to be in a position in which the Skirmisher is in close-enough range to shoot at the start of their turn without moving, because it means the aliens got reeal close to you on their turn somehow. (And are probably behind high cover.) You could Wrath or Grapple forward, but that can be risky, and they have pretty awful timers. And in exchange, their two shots do about as much damage as a single Sharpshooter shot. Ehh.
Templars have the same problem. Risky pull factor to use effectively. And they're pretty limited in actual damage output per turn, short of using Ionic Storm. Ghost is cool, boosting their damage and actions while it lasts, but again, just don't do enough PEW PEW to be keep up in the late game. Templars, in particular, suffer from action economy and defensive skills: they have a ton of cool powers, but not enough moves per turn/focus to use them effectively, and they've got a lot of good defensive abilities, when you don't want to be shot at all. (Apparently, Stun Strike is a blue move though, so I'm gonna try that out. Also, bonding a Templar is great. Give them mobility buffs, and then they can donate their extra blue action to someone else!)
I feel like it's more like the other classes catch up to the power level because of the various additional skills they can learn in the training center + being able to learn skills on both skill trees instead of picking just one in addition to the armors and loadouts giving additional flexibility
Meanwhile the 3 hero classes start off with full, ridiculous kits. Reapers and Skirmishers can get tactical rigging, which means they can equip ammo, and their unique features still make them very viable endgame imo - Reapers with modded out rifles for expanded magazines can take out a sectopod with a homing mine + banish easily, and with mobility PCS or covert boosts can cover ridiculous amounts of ground for scouting. Homing mine is ridiculously good for setting up ambushes, and Reapers can also learn Shredder which makes them that much more effective. skirmishers can control the battlefield really well with all the ripjack skills, and they can, if positioned in range, fire twice in a turn and attack with Whiplash, which is like a Ranger with the Hunter Axe throw. They also have access to unique overwatch capability which is also pretty crazy (they also have inbuilt grappling hook!). Templars are obviously really specialized melee, but they still learn some pretty amazing skills like the swap skills and Amplify, which still help them work with the team even if they can't run in and hack everyone to death.
Here's an example I found on das youtube
yea, that is the one thing that kinda peeves me is that I research the tech, and I get rifles and shotguns, and pistols, but then I gotta research *again* for the grenadier and sniper variant.
Not to mention buying each weapon class individually.
I dunno. there has to be something in between a blanket one time fuck off expensive purchase and being nickel and dime'd for classes weapons or just straight out purchasing individual weapons for each soldier. But nah, everyone uses armor so that's all one purchase save the warframes and suits.
Maybe do all xcom weapons and all hero class weapons as purchases.
Video game movies never work because directors and producers can never not write about the backstory and they must cram 60hours of built of lore into a 2hour show and they hurt for it. But yes, a tv show would lend itself well to XCOM, or even a miniseries like Band of Brothers... or yes... ten 1hour episodes al la game of thrones season format. Stargate SG-1 is damn near XCOM, just switch out the gate with Firebrand and its pretty much XCOM WotC with enemy defector and always running the "A Team" in the first seasons of the show.
I would say break it into four seasons, *maybe* five. Like the comic, Walking Dead is just a never ending thing and I just cannot care for that show anymore, or the comic. Game of Thrones is just about at that point for me now as well, especially with HBO telling GRR basically fuck off, you are taking too long to write the books, we got this, we want our money making machine to keep going while there is still money to be made.
At least with five seasons of XCOM you have a definite beginning and end point.
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Hey, just make XCOM: Tour of Duty. You always knew who was going to die in the old Tour of Duty because it was the new guy on the squad. I swear that company had the highest turnover rate in Vietnam.
Only problem with a TV show is that the xenos would take a ridiculous amount of special effects, so you may just want to just pull a Clone Wars and just do full CGI, so you can more easily model the xenos in the environment. I seem to recall that there was a Starship Troopers CGI series awhile back that ran a couple seasons.
(Of course those in euroland will remind you that original non-NA title for the game was in fact "UFO: Enemy Unknown.")
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Well it was made in 1999. Anything from 18 years ago is gonna look rough.
I think someone said I could've got a bunch from the "tag the supplies" raid? Shame, I ran that mission waaay too slowly