Interestingly, chance to hit is capped at 95%, so a 100% shot can miss.
That's a bit of a weird one. Is that for humans, aliens or both?
And does that apply to higher difficulties?
Applies to both aliens and humans. On Classic and Impossible, hit chance is always the displayed value (I suppose with the exception of the tutorial, and the Blaster Launcher). On Normal, hit chance is clamped between 1 and 95. This also occurs on Easy when 4 or more squad members are alive.
Though, as long as I'm elbow-deep in this decompiled shit, I had a look at some of the hit calculations, since we were talking about the RNG:
Turns out, on Easy and Normal, the game literally cheats for you:
On easy AND you are down to 3 or fewer soldiers:
Chance to hit is 120% of displayed value
Chance to hit is further increased by 15% (absolute) per missing squad member, under 4 (if you only brought 1 soldier, he has +45% chance to hit)
For hits that have at least a 50% chance of hitting,you receive another 15% (absolute) chance to hit per consecutive miss (up to 30%)
Alien chance to hit is reduced by 10% (absolute) for each consecutive hit.
Alien chance to hit is reduced by 25% (absolute) for each squad member missing under 4
On normal with 4 or fewer soldiers, or easy with precisely 4:
Chance to hit is 120% of displayed value
For hits that have at least a 50% chance of hitting, chance to hit is increased by 15% (absolute) per consecutive miss, with no upper limit
Alien chance to hit is reduced by 10% (absolute) for each consecutive hit.
Interestingly, chance to hit is capped at 95%, so a 100% shot can miss.
Consecutive misses are any shots that had a 50%+ chance to hit, but missed. Shots with a lower chance are ignored. Also: hit chances explicitly do not apply to friendly fire. Psi attacks have their own stuff that goes into native code, so I can't tell if there are any of these adjustments.
Seeing any modifiers based on mission difficulty?
Specifically, "Difficult" and "Very Difficult" class missions feel as though they grant a massive bonus to alien crit chance. Every time I've seen the aliens do something dumb like stick six crits in a row, it's been on a V. Difficult abduction mission.
I'm not finding exactly where those values are set. The best I can say is that it's stored solely on the strategy layer, and so should be inaccessible on the tactical layer, so I'd bet good money on those values not actually affecting anything once you're in the mission.
So easy and normal are literally cheating in favor of the player, while classic is presumably a level playing field? Is there evidence that impossible is cheating against the player?
In Classic, Aliens (not all of them I think,but most) get +aim and +crit compared to Normal.
I read about multiple mods removing this to create a "difficulty between Normal and Classic".
I don't really regard that as cheating, that is fine as far as I am concerned and the aliens really should be better than you to evoke the feeling of the original especially (as classic intends to do). I am more wondering if aliens get on bonuses to hit if they consistently miss like players do on normal, or alternatively if the players aim is penalized or similar. Especially if this applies on impossible.
Aliens do not get bonuses to hit when they miss, regardless of difficulty. Those bonuses only apply to the players, since they exist to make people "feel" like the numbers are actually correct by making them absolutely wrong.
I actually think that the hit chance slowly creeping up as you miss shoots is a good mechanic and should be explicit in all of the difficulties, for both the player and aliens.
It makes sense. You miss a little bit to a left, so you aim a little more to the right.
This is done on a per-player (as in, alien player and human player, obviously disabled for multiplayer), not a per-unit basis.
Interestingly, chance to hit is capped at 95%, so a 100% shot can miss.
That's a bit of a weird one. Is that for humans, aliens or both?
And does that apply to higher difficulties?
Applies to both aliens and humans. On Classic and Impossible, hit chance is always the displayed value (I suppose with the exception of the tutorial, and the Blaster Launcher). On Normal, hit chance is clamped between 1 and 95. This also occurs on Easy when 4 or more squad members are alive.
Though, as long as I'm elbow-deep in this decompiled shit, I had a look at some of the hit calculations, since we were talking about the RNG:
Turns out, on Easy and Normal, the game literally cheats for you:
On easy AND you are down to 3 or fewer soldiers:
Chance to hit is 120% of displayed value
Chance to hit is further increased by 15% (absolute) per missing squad member, under 4 (if you only brought 1 soldier, he has +45% chance to hit)
For hits that have at least a 50% chance of hitting,you receive another 15% (absolute) chance to hit per consecutive miss (up to 30%)
Alien chance to hit is reduced by 10% (absolute) for each consecutive hit.
Alien chance to hit is reduced by 25% (absolute) for each squad member missing under 4
On normal with 4 or fewer soldiers, or easy with precisely 4:
Chance to hit is 120% of displayed value
For hits that have at least a 50% chance of hitting, chance to hit is increased by 15% (absolute) per consecutive miss, with no upper limit
Alien chance to hit is reduced by 10% (absolute) for each consecutive hit.
Interestingly, chance to hit is capped at 95%, so a 100% shot can miss.
Consecutive misses are any shots that had a 50%+ chance to hit, but missed. Shots with a lower chance are ignored. Also: hit chances explicitly do not apply to friendly fire. Psi attacks have their own stuff that goes into native code, so I can't tell if there are any of these adjustments.
Seeing any modifiers based on mission difficulty?
Specifically, "Difficult" and "Very Difficult" class missions feel as though they grant a massive bonus to alien crit chance. Every time I've seen the aliens do something dumb like stick six crits in a row, it's been on a V. Difficult abduction mission.
I'm not finding exactly where those values are set. The best I can say is that it's stored solely on the strategy layer, and so should be inaccessible on the tactical layer, so I'd bet good money on those values not actually affecting anything once you're in the mission.
So easy and normal are literally cheating in favor of the player, while classic is presumably a level playing field? Is there evidence that impossible is cheating against the player?
In Classic, Aliens (not all of them I think,but most) get +aim and +crit compared to Normal.
I read about multiple mods removing this to create a "difficulty between Normal and Classic".
I don't really regard that as cheating, that is fine as far as I am concerned and the aliens really should be better than you to evoke the feeling of the original especially (as classic intends to do). I am more wondering if aliens get on bonuses to hit if they consistently miss like players do on normal, or alternatively if the players aim is penalized or similar. Especially if this applies on impossible.
Aliens do not get bonuses to hit when they miss, regardless of difficulty. Those bonuses only apply to the players, since they exist to make people "feel" like the numbers are actually correct by making them absolutely wrong.
I actually think that the hit chance slowly creeping up as you miss shoots is a good mechanic and should be explicit in all of the difficulties, for both the player and aliens.
It makes sense. You miss a little bit to a left, so you aim a little more to the right.
This is done on a per-player (as in, alien player and human player, obviously disabled for multiplayer), not a per-unit basis.
Well, in that case it would be better as a per-unit mechanic, but it would be nice to have.
Anyway, I think you just discovered why Normal feels so much easier than Classic.
Also, I made another mistake: attacks with a 100% chance to hit skip the hit chance adjustment entirely (for aliens and players). There still is that odd deadzone where shots cannot have actual chances to hit between 96 and 99, but that doesn't matter much.
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BethrynUnhappiness is MandatoryRegistered Userregular
Also, I made another mistake: attacks with a 100% chance to hit skip the hit chance adjustment entirely (for aliens and players). There still is that odd deadzone where shots cannot have actual chances to hit between 96 and 99, but that doesn't matter much.
Well current ironman playthrough is basically over. Combo of Alien Base + Abductor (and earlier, Terror/Abduction within 12 hours of each other) basically bleed me out of all my best troops, even though I was building pretty wide, no one was getting XP from missions so I had a load of squaddies with 1 or 2 kills and 6 or 7 higher up guys who were basically killed by a lot of bad luck
Also, I made another mistake: attacks with a 100% chance to hit skip the hit chance adjustment entirely (for aliens and players). There still is that odd deadzone where shots cannot have actual chances to hit between 96 and 99, but that doesn't matter much.
Well current ironman playthrough is basically over. Combo of Alien Base + Abductor (and earlier, Terror/Abduction within 12 hours of each other) basically bleed me out of all my best troops, even though I was building pretty wide, no one was getting XP from missions so I had a load of squaddies with 1 or 2 kills and 6 or 7 higher up guys who were basically killed by a lot of bad luck
My Classic game has been moving apace. I finally got the psi lab built, but only two of my soldiers have the gift. Both happen to be high ranking Support dudes, including @Mere_Immortal and some guy I got as a quest reward who didn't end up with a PA name. I'm not sure which stuff I should spoil, so I'll just do the rest in spoilers.
I shot down the Overseer with a plasma armed Firestorm, though I nearly ran out of time. I think I had 0.5 seconds left on the clock. I know that the ship has 13 enemies, Ethereal, Muton Elite, Sectopod and Drone types. OK, I haven't fought any of those except Drones yet, should be fun. I start moving towards the ship, and I hear some aliens off to the left, so I reposition there. Some careful exploration reveals a pair of Muton Elites. Well @Just_Bri_Thanks and @SniperGuy take care of them, but not before @El Mucho gets taken down to 1 health. @Vegeta_666 also took a plasma shot, so Mere_Immortal patches them up with his medkit, depleting it fully. I then find two more Muton Elites, who I'm able to sucker into moving forward into reaction shots from the snipers. Things are going fairly well, I know that El Mucho and Vegeta_666 are going to spend some time in the medbay after this, but still, nothing too terrible. I've reloaded and have the squad setup again when a Secotopod plus drones finds the team. The reaction shots take out one drone, and now there is a Sectopod sitting there with line of sight on at least two of my guys. The snipers fill him full of plasma, and Mere_Immortal finishes off the second drone. No damage received by my side. Before I can reload, a second Sectopod pops up right behind my snipers on the very edge of the map near the Skyranger. Well this isn't good. Vegeta_666 suppresses the Sectopod just in case, then Just_Bri_Thanks and SniperGuy drop plasma on his face, leaving him at 4 health. In desperation (I've heard that Sectopods get two reaction shots always so I didn't move anybody, and half the squad is flanked) I Run & Gun El Mucho as far as I can, ending at a range of 2 squares where she puts down the Sectopod. Two down, without them getting a single shot off. The drones then show up in front of my squad, and are easily dispatched.
I slowly work my war forward; I know I've killed 10 out of the 13 aliens so far and I don't hear anything coming from outside the ship. I'm a little worried, as this is my first time assaulting the Overseer ship and I don't know the specifics of how the ship is laid out, and there are a lot of perforated walls. I eventually get to the doorway, and I have my sniper crew setup behind some low (full for snipers) cover with the rest in front of the door. Everybody is ready and I pop it open, and it was like I feared: an Ethereal and two Elite Mutons. The Ethereal retreats out of sight, and the Mutons get behind a control console which is also right in front of the object I'm supposed to capture. I consider dropping a rocket on it anyway, but I don't want to risk damaging it so I go a different route. Mere_Immortal mind controls the one to my right with an 83% chance, and my sniper duo snuff out the other one. Excellent, things are looking up! Alien turn comes, the Ethereal moves forward and mind controls my second psionic support guy! Well this is not good. I use the Muton Elite to walk up behind the Ethereal and pop him for 10 damage, I snipe him for a pile more, and now he's at 5 health. Hrm. My second sniper has a plasma pistol, so he walks forward and pops the Ethereal at point blank range for 3. El Mucho then decides that enough is enough, walks forward and uses the Arc Thrower to capture the Ethereal. Excellent. Now what to do with the Muton Elite? Well he has a grenade, which he promptly eats. He's in no cover when the mind control breaks, and instead of trying to move into cover when under 6 overwatches, he shoots at Vegeta_666 and misses. Just_Bri_Thanks then drops a crit on him that reduces him to 1 health. El Mucho decides that since it worked so well last time, it should work again, and captures the Elite Muton and his Heavy Plasma.
All in all, a resounding success. El Mucho and Vegeta_666 are still in the hospital, but I have absolutely no complaints about their performance in the field. I'm hoping to find at least one more psionic, but if I don't I'll just have to finish things up with two. That mind control really made the fight in the last room pretty trivial. I just need to get El Mucho an alloy cannon, and get everybody some new armor and I'll be ready to crush the invasion once and for all!
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ShivahnUnaware of her barrel shifter privilegeWestern coastal temptressRegistered User, Moderatormod
My troops love sectopods. They seem to have a gift for wandering into two at once.
So far no one has a gift in the psionic sense though. Their gifts are all only useful for getting killed.
EDIT: Nevermind, didn't see the quotes. I can see (though would be very frustrated and confused) if it displayed 100% chance to hit and you had more than enough accuracy to have 100% to hit, and it was 95%. That'd be stupid, but I'm pretty sure It's been done before.
I'm wishing I had unlocked psiops earlier. Maybe it's because it took me so long to get into the alien base, but it is kind of a downer right now that I'm only really enjoying my one psionic at the end. Got the psi suit and am trying it out. It's no titan, but the bonus to will and defense are nice, plus it seems to give me a cool new ability. I can't wait to try out a support psionic sometime.
As it stands, once I clear up normal ironman, I think I will take what I learned to classic.
Playing Classic is quite a bit different from playing Normal, IMO.
On Normal, I rarely used Suppression and never used Hunker Down. Both are incredibly useful on Classic.
I'd say that Suppression is one of the single most useful abilities for Classic. With 3-4 guys using it (2 heavies, 1-2 support), total shitstorm situations can be completely reversed. Had a moment earlier on an UFO assault mission where I killed 3 mutons, immediately revealed 3 other mutons in the process of killing the last one, and in the process of shooting those mutons revealed 3 more mutons. I was fully expecting a squad wipe, but Suppression let me move everybody back and completely reverse the fight with something like 2 people getting hit with a grenade and one single hit from a plasma rifle. Ended up coming through the mission with zero losses and one soldier lightly injured. Definitely not the turnout I had in mind when I saw that long row of mutons.
Also provided for a great moment. After wiping out most of the mutons, I decided to shift my advance to the other side of the UFO since there was still cover over there (rockets and plasma had destroyed all the cover on the other side). Get my whole team set up to advance in the new direction and one of the 2 remaining mutons comes charging right through a doorway, obviously intent on flanking my team that was now all facing him and all on reaction fire.
The amusing horror helped make up for an earlier part where five separate reaction shots at one muton missed, with two of them point-blank. That was less amusing.
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Dusdais ashamed of this postSLC, UTRegistered Userregular
Things are going so well I think the Council dude wants to explore my pants.
A little too well. This concerns me. I lost Australia way back due to some bad satellite timing, but I have every other square inch covered now. 11 of my 18 soldiers are Corporal or better. Two are Colonels and three are Majors. Everyone has plasma except my heavy (that's next on the research list). All armor is researched. I have two ships in every country with plasma or laser.
I'm worried I'm about to get punched in the dong, or something.
Could the people who understand the game's cover system tell me why my characters (in bi-directional partial cover) always get flanked from one of the directions the cover faces? If I'm in a little corner with 2 partial cover icons (one for north and west, for example) I keep getting flanked by stuff coming from the north, moving west of my character and then shooting him with a flanking bonus. It happens frequently in downed ships (Overseer and Battleship especially). Bloody annoying.
There are mentions of two DLCs tucked away in the games config files and some secret steam achievements that can't be unlocked in the base game, but nobody really knows anything about what might be coming.
Rami on
Steam / Xbox Live: WSDX NNID: W-S-D-X 3DS FC: 2637-9461-8549
How does the grappling-hook compare to the Archangel Armor?
How does a tank-thing compare to a regular soldier?
Archangel is better overall, but the grappling hook may have some situational advantages before you get the double fuel capacity for the archangel armor. This is, of course, ignoring whatever other capacities the armors may have.
The SHIVS are all at the very least absolutely superior to a rookie. SHIVs can't climb or take cover, but are decently fast, have a good amount of health, acceptable aim and deal good damage even without upgrading their weapon. They also can't panic or get mind controlled. Alloy SHIVs are fantastic scouts and the fact they can be used as cover makes Abductor Ships and other areas with little cover a lot easier to deal with.
Edit: Also! SHIVs don't induce panic when they're destroyed. This all makes them totally disposable apart from their cost to build. You never have to worry about tragic panic spirals if you accidentally send them into a shitty situation, which is not the case for rookies or squaddies.
That sounds neat. Should keep one around.
And they need Arc Throwers instead of Medkits for a refill?
How does the grappling-hook compare to the Archangel Armor?
How does a tank-thing compare to a regular soldier?
Depends on the hook. For snipers, AA armor is definitely best since it means you always have the flying bonus and can always get line of sight on lots of enemies.
For everyone else, Grapple/Ghost armor is probably better. The defensive bonus they provide makes up for the lower HP bonus.
Mm, with AA I suppose you don't need a roof nearby.
Which classes get the most mileage out of the mindcontrol-ability?
How does the grappling-hook compare to the Archangel Armor?
How does a tank-thing compare to a regular soldier?
Archangel is better overall, but the grappling hook may have some situational advantages before you get the double fuel capacity for the archangel armor. This is, of course, ignoring whatever other capacities the armors may have.
The SHIVS are all at the very least absolutely superior to a rookie. SHIVs can't climb or take cover, but are decently fast, have a good amount of health, acceptable aim and deal good damage even without upgrading their weapon. They also can't panic or get mind controlled. Alloy SHIVs are fantastic scouts and the fact they can be used as cover makes Abductor Ships and other areas with little cover a lot easier to deal with.
Edit: Also! SHIVs don't induce panic when they're destroyed. This all makes them totally disposable apart from their cost to build. You never have to worry about tragic panic spirals if you accidentally send them into a shitty situation, which is not the case for rookies or squaddies.
That sounds neat. Should keep one around.
And they need Arc Throwers instead of Medkits for a refill?
That's a Foundry upgrade, but yeah.
GNU Terry Pratchett
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Which classes get the most mileage out of the mindcontrol-ability?
definitely supports, they lose the least in general from using a turn on psi abilities.
up to constructing the prelude to the final mission on my C/I run, I have 2 psychic snipers and 1 psychic support and frankly I am fucking unstoppable now that I know the layouts and likely trouble spots in the UFO battles. also, mind control is hilariously broken and it is so, so gratifying after dealing with playthrough after playthrough being miserably afraid of ethereals to mind control muton elites and hurtle them at their friends.
is it worth holding out for a battleship loot run before the final battle? I kind of want to regardless, but I'm really hoping for a worthwhile reward and a non-buggy camera.
Good lord is it frustrating trying to play on any of larger UFOs with balconies. Why does the camera keep zipping up through roof? Why is it impossible to select the square you want without spinning the camera around every time? Why?!
And more importantly, how could they have though this was functional enough to release like this?
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KlykaDO you have anySPARE BATTERIES?Registered Userregular
I hate that kinda thing in games. Where even if it says 100% it's not actually 100%.
Apparently the shown hit % in easy and normal isn't accurate either (it changes in the player's favor depending on certain behind the scenes logic you're never shown).
And now factor in that the scenery you see in stages doesn't actually mean shit in terms of where you can and can't be shot at...yeah. My hat is off to you folks playing classic/impossible ironman. The tactical part of the game is series of mysterious dicerolls and prayer.
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
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KlykaDO you have anySPARE BATTERIES?Registered Userregular
Normal is just too easy. There is no challenge or excitement in it. it's literally "Look ma, I'm playin XCOM" and then you win.
Classic 4 life.
Normal is just too easy. There is no challenge or excitement in it. it's literally "Look ma, I'm playin XCOM" and then you win.
Classic 4 life.
At this point I'd like to point at that there are people on various forums complaining that normal is too hard. I assume those people haven't played other squad-based tbs games yet.
Normal is just too easy. There is no challenge or excitement in it. it's literally "Look ma, I'm playin XCOM" and then you win.
Classic 4 life.
At this point I'd like to point at that there are people on various forums complaining that normal is too hard. I assume those people haven't played other squad-based tbs games yet.
One of the key things I noticed about my normal game was that it is forgiving (particularly in the early game). Sure it can still give you a kicking on the battlefield in the early game (with a combination of bad luck on RNG and no armour yet) but it seems as long as you get those satellites up and don't research the "trigger" technologies too quickly it will never leave you behind. I had a period of high casualties and a couple of wipes early in my normal game but it does not really punish you for it...
I am sure if you got into the late game and somehow managed to end up with just rookies you could be in a world of hurt trying to get the new guys experienced enough to continue without losing a lot of missions...
Im having a lot of fun though, having never played an XCOM or many turn based games before.
The single most important thing to learn is patience. Dashing ahead is a recipe for disaster, and sometimes pulling back means you can string out eager bad guys.
"Sometimes things aren't complicated," I said. "You just have to be willing to accept the absolute corruption of everybody involved."
Could the people who understand the game's cover system tell me why my characters (in bi-directional partial cover) always get flanked from one of the directions the cover faces? If I'm in a little corner with 2 partial cover icons (one for north and west, for example) I keep getting flanked by stuff coming from the north, moving west of my character and then shooting him with a flanking bonus. It happens frequently in downed ships (Overseer and Battleship especially). Bloody annoying.
The scenario I was talking about is the very last portion of that image, but put the Xcom and his partial cover directly south of the operative. It results in the operative being flanked. I can recreate it in any of the big ship interiors.
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
I hate that kinda thing in games. Where even if it says 100% it's not actually 100%.
Apparently the shown hit % in easy and normal isn't accurate either (it changes in the player's favor depending on certain behind the scenes logic you're never shown).
And now factor in that the scenery you see in stages doesn't actually mean shit in terms of where you can and can't be shot at...yeah. My hat is off to you folks playing classic/impossible ironman. The tactical part of the game is series of mysterious dicerolls and prayer.
Having played the game pretty much exclusively on classic or impossible, I couldn't disagree with this more. Sometimes enemies are going to hit you in cover and sometimes it will be a crit, that's XCOM baby. Losses are when you fail consistently enough, with the "consistently" part being shorter on impossible than on lower difficulties.
I mean, I came back on classic in several tense battles where I lost 5/6 veterans and that was not just because of pure dumb luck. I have even managed this on impossible as well - so tactics do matter and the degree you have to play perfectly (or just very well on classic).
What's dumb luck in this game? The fucking strategic layer. I have lost 3 impossible games, despite winning every tactical battle purely because I got unlucky with abduction missions in the same countries, which increases panic much faster than you can afford to deal with by building satellites. The furthest I have got on impossible was solely due to pure dumb luck where abduction missions occured - notably in counties that weren't already in orange or red panic.
I hate that kinda thing in games. Where even if it says 100% it's not actually 100%.
Apparently the shown hit % in easy and normal isn't accurate either (it changes in the player's favor depending on certain behind the scenes logic you're never shown).
And now factor in that the scenery you see in stages doesn't actually mean shit in terms of where you can and can't be shot at...yeah. My hat is off to you folks playing classic/impossible ironman. The tactical part of the game is series of mysterious dicerolls and prayer.
Having played the game pretty much exclusively on classic or impossible, I couldn't disagree with this more. Sometimes enemies are going to hit you in cover and sometimes it will be a crit, that's XCOM baby. Losses are when you fail consistently enough, with the "consistently" part being shorter on impossible than on lower difficulties.
I mean, I came back on classic in several tense battles where I lost 5/6 veterans and that was not just because of pure dumb luck. I have even managed this on impossible as well - so tactics do matter and the degree you have to play perfectly (or just very well on classic).
What's dumb luck in this game? The fucking strategic layer. I have lost 3 impossible games, despite winning every tactical battle purely because I got unlucky with abduction missions in the same countries, which increases panic much faster than you can afford to deal with by building satellites. The furthest I have got on impossible was solely due to pure dumb luck where abduction missions occured - notably in counties that weren't already in orange or red panic.
I've been shot through UFO hulls, buildings and hills. I've been shot while sitting 3 of 4 layers higher than the enemy, behind multiple layers of cover. I've been flanked through all kinds of cover, at angles my definition of 'flanked' didn't even remotely align with. If you have not encountered these situations then I am just unlucky, I guess. In games like SS and JA2 I feel a lot more comfortable in reading the battlefield and making decisions. In this game it's just like 'yeah, if what I was seeing mattered then I'd be fine behind this building. But it doesn't, and I'll probably be shot at now at some insane angle with stupid amounts of clipping'.
None of that is really a problem if I play non-ironman. But god help me if I try otherwise.
Posts
This is done on a per-player (as in, alien player and human player, obviously disabled for multiplayer), not a per-unit basis.
Well, in that case it would be better as a per-unit mechanic, but it would be nice to have.
Anyway, I think you just discovered why Normal feels so much easier than Classic.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=104065886
You'll notice I haven't even had time to move my sniper into cover yet.
But that's OK, because all 6 of those contacts are Chrysalids + Zombies!
And that's how it's done, ladies and gents.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=104068594
No idea.
Thats how my prior long classic ironman game ran.
I slowly work my war forward; I know I've killed 10 out of the 13 aliens so far and I don't hear anything coming from outside the ship. I'm a little worried, as this is my first time assaulting the Overseer ship and I don't know the specifics of how the ship is laid out, and there are a lot of perforated walls. I eventually get to the doorway, and I have my sniper crew setup behind some low (full for snipers) cover with the rest in front of the door. Everybody is ready and I pop it open, and it was like I feared: an Ethereal and two Elite Mutons. The Ethereal retreats out of sight, and the Mutons get behind a control console which is also right in front of the object I'm supposed to capture. I consider dropping a rocket on it anyway, but I don't want to risk damaging it so I go a different route. Mere_Immortal mind controls the one to my right with an 83% chance, and my sniper duo snuff out the other one. Excellent, things are looking up! Alien turn comes, the Ethereal moves forward and mind controls my second psionic support guy! Well this is not good. I use the Muton Elite to walk up behind the Ethereal and pop him for 10 damage, I snipe him for a pile more, and now he's at 5 health. Hrm. My second sniper has a plasma pistol, so he walks forward and pops the Ethereal at point blank range for 3. El Mucho then decides that enough is enough, walks forward and uses the Arc Thrower to capture the Ethereal. Excellent. Now what to do with the Muton Elite? Well he has a grenade, which he promptly eats. He's in no cover when the mind control breaks, and instead of trying to move into cover when under 6 overwatches, he shoots at Vegeta_666 and misses. Just_Bri_Thanks then drops a crit on him that reduces him to 1 health. El Mucho decides that since it worked so well last time, it should work again, and captures the Elite Muton and his Heavy Plasma.
All in all, a resounding success. El Mucho and Vegeta_666 are still in the hospital, but I have absolutely no complaints about their performance in the field. I'm hoping to find at least one more psionic, but if I don't I'll just have to finish things up with two. That mind control really made the fight in the last room pretty trivial. I just need to get El Mucho an alloy cannon, and get everybody some new armor and I'll be ready to crush the invasion once and for all!
So far no one has a gift in the psionic sense though. Their gifts are all only useful for getting killed.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=104079540
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=104079600
EDIT: Nevermind, didn't see the quotes. I can see (though would be very frustrated and confused) if it displayed 100% chance to hit and you had more than enough accuracy to have 100% to hit, and it was 95%. That'd be stupid, but I'm pretty sure It's been done before.
As it stands, once I clear up normal ironman, I think I will take what I learned to classic.
On Normal, I rarely used Suppression and never used Hunker Down. Both are incredibly useful on Classic.
I'd say that Suppression is one of the single most useful abilities for Classic. With 3-4 guys using it (2 heavies, 1-2 support), total shitstorm situations can be completely reversed. Had a moment earlier on an UFO assault mission where I killed 3 mutons, immediately revealed 3 other mutons in the process of killing the last one, and in the process of shooting those mutons revealed 3 more mutons. I was fully expecting a squad wipe, but Suppression let me move everybody back and completely reverse the fight with something like 2 people getting hit with a grenade and one single hit from a plasma rifle. Ended up coming through the mission with zero losses and one soldier lightly injured. Definitely not the turnout I had in mind when I saw that long row of mutons.
Also provided for a great moment. After wiping out most of the mutons, I decided to shift my advance to the other side of the UFO since there was still cover over there (rockets and plasma had destroyed all the cover on the other side). Get my whole team set up to advance in the new direction and one of the 2 remaining mutons comes charging right through a doorway, obviously intent on flanking my team that was now all facing him and all on reaction fire.
The amusing horror helped make up for an earlier part where five separate reaction shots at one muton missed, with two of them point-blank. That was less amusing.
A little too well. This concerns me. I lost Australia way back due to some bad satellite timing, but I have every other square inch covered now. 11 of my 18 soldiers are Corporal or better. Two are Colonels and three are Majors. Everyone has plasma except my heavy (that's next on the research list). All armor is researched. I have two ships in every country with plasma or laser.
I'm worried I'm about to get punched in the dong, or something.
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
That sounds neat. Should keep one around.
And they need Arc Throwers instead of Medkits for a refill?
Mm, with AA I suppose you don't need a roof nearby.
Which classes get the most mileage out of the mindcontrol-ability?
That's a Foundry upgrade, but yeah.
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definitely supports, they lose the least in general from using a turn on psi abilities.
up to constructing the prelude to the final mission on my C/I run, I have 2 psychic snipers and 1 psychic support and frankly I am fucking unstoppable now that I know the layouts and likely trouble spots in the UFO battles. also, mind control is hilariously broken and it is so, so gratifying after dealing with playthrough after playthrough being miserably afraid of ethereals to mind control muton elites and hurtle them at their friends.
is it worth holding out for a battleship loot run before the final battle? I kind of want to regardless, but I'm really hoping for a worthwhile reward and a non-buggy camera.
And more importantly, how could they have though this was functional enough to release like this?
I hate that kinda thing in games. Where even if it says 100% it's not actually 100%.
Apparently the shown hit % in easy and normal isn't accurate either (it changes in the player's favor depending on certain behind the scenes logic you're never shown).
And now factor in that the scenery you see in stages doesn't actually mean shit in terms of where you can and can't be shot at...yeah. My hat is off to you folks playing classic/impossible ironman. The tactical part of the game is series of mysterious dicerolls and prayer.
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
Classic 4 life.
At this point I'd like to point at that there are people on various forums complaining that normal is too hard. I assume those people haven't played other squad-based tbs games yet.
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
Im not doing well at all.
Im having a lot of fun though, having never played an XCOM or many turn based games before.
But you're not complaining about it or asking for the game to be nerfed which is awesome. Stick with it!
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
One of the key things I noticed about my normal game was that it is forgiving (particularly in the early game). Sure it can still give you a kicking on the battlefield in the early game (with a combination of bad luck on RNG and no armour yet) but it seems as long as you get those satellites up and don't research the "trigger" technologies too quickly it will never leave you behind. I had a period of high casualties and a couple of wipes early in my normal game but it does not really punish you for it...
I am sure if you got into the late game and somehow managed to end up with just rookies you could be in a world of hurt trying to get the new guys experienced enough to continue without losing a lot of missions...
The single most important thing to learn is patience. Dashing ahead is a recipe for disaster, and sometimes pulling back means you can string out eager bad guys.
Found this on the /r/xcom hope it helps.
The scenario I was talking about is the very last portion of that image, but put the Xcom and his partial cover directly south of the operative. It results in the operative being flanked. I can recreate it in any of the big ship interiors.
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
Having played the game pretty much exclusively on classic or impossible, I couldn't disagree with this more. Sometimes enemies are going to hit you in cover and sometimes it will be a crit, that's XCOM baby. Losses are when you fail consistently enough, with the "consistently" part being shorter on impossible than on lower difficulties.
I mean, I came back on classic in several tense battles where I lost 5/6 veterans and that was not just because of pure dumb luck. I have even managed this on impossible as well - so tactics do matter and the degree you have to play perfectly (or just very well on classic).
What's dumb luck in this game? The fucking strategic layer. I have lost 3 impossible games, despite winning every tactical battle purely because I got unlucky with abduction missions in the same countries, which increases panic much faster than you can afford to deal with by building satellites. The furthest I have got on impossible was solely due to pure dumb luck where abduction missions occured - notably in counties that weren't already in orange or red panic.
I've been shot through UFO hulls, buildings and hills. I've been shot while sitting 3 of 4 layers higher than the enemy, behind multiple layers of cover. I've been flanked through all kinds of cover, at angles my definition of 'flanked' didn't even remotely align with. If you have not encountered these situations then I am just unlucky, I guess. In games like SS and JA2 I feel a lot more comfortable in reading the battlefield and making decisions. In this game it's just like 'yeah, if what I was seeing mattered then I'd be fine behind this building. But it doesn't, and I'll probably be shot at now at some insane angle with stupid amounts of clipping'.
None of that is really a problem if I play non-ironman. But god help me if I try otherwise.
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW