Humanoid

Hit chances in XCOM are a simple beast, but not immediately intuitive. Fundamentally it's simply the attacker's aim score minus the target's defense score (typically zero plus the value of cover). This is easily demonstrable - in the typical first mission of each campaign, where it's rookies vs sectoids, you'll likely see hit chances being one of 65%, 45%, or 25%. This is because rookies always have an aim score of 65 (unless the "Not Created Equal" second wave option is enabled), shooting at sectoids with zero inherent defense who are either behind high cover (40 defense), half cover (20 defense), or exposed/flanked (no hit modifier) Missing the 92% chance is pure bad luck. You take hundreds of shots in a typical session, so missing a few of those is to be expected. I've missed both shots of a 90%+ Rapid Fire. The chances of that happening is 1%, which is actually pretty damn high considering the total number of shots taken. For what it's worth, the RNG has been tested and verified as being 'fair'. I believe it's the same RNG used in the Civilization games, which have always been shown to be fair despite suspicions driven by confirmation bias. The typical player doesn't nail a lot of low-percentage shots because they often opt not to take them in the first place. But it's not infrequent to find yourself in a situation where there's no reason not to take a low-chance pot shot ....ugh, that was a quadruple negative - what I mean to say is that an experienced player might actually end up taking more potshots than you might expect because of situations where the alternatives of hunkering down or overwatching wouldn't make a difference. There is a caveat though - on Easy and Normal difficulties, the CPU actually does cheat the hit percentages ....in the *player's* favour. Each consecutive shot the player misses grants a hidden bonus to the subsequent shot, until one hits whereupon the bonus is reset. The opposite applies to alien shots, each consecutive hit they land reduces the chance of the next one hitting. Further, on Easy, you gain massive bonuses for having your squad reduced to less than four, up to the point where if you have only one soldier active, they can reasonably expect to be able to stand out in the open and magically matrix-dodge every incoming shot, and nail every shot of their own, Rambo-style. But yeah, in classic and impossible difficulties, the percentage chances are absolutely by-the-book fair and as stated. Finally, the effect of range on accuracy. It is both simple and complex and can lead to some puzzlement such as yours. A bit of trivia is that the original X-COM had no range accuracy modifiers whatsover, and something similar but not-quite-the-same happens in the current version. Fundamentally there is no range 'penalty' - weapons besides shotguns are good to their maximum range (which is the same for all but sniper rifles), using the simple calculations shown earlier. However there is a *bonus* for ranges of less than 10 tiles (inverted into a penalty for sniper rifles). Shotguns receive a larger bonus for close range, but the distances it applies to is the same: 1-9 tiles. To break it down: Assault rifles, LMGs, pistols - flat, base accuracy from 10 tiles to maximum range (30 tiles I think?). Mild progressive bonus for closer range. Shotguns - base accuracy applies at exactly 10 tiles. Progressive, high bonus applies for closer ranges, and progressively larger penalties for larger ranges. (The bonus/penalty is actually mirrored, i.e. the bonus for 9 tiles is the same as the penalty for 11 tiles). Sniper rifles - flat, base accuracy from 10 tiles up to maximum range (99 tiles with squadsight?), mild progressive penalty for closer distances. Incidentally, this is why the Reaper Round item behaves somewhat oddly in game. It multiplies range penalties, but since only shotguns are penalised as such, there is no effective penalty for other weapons. (Actually, it multiplies the sniper rifle's penalty for proximity, which sounds a bit nonsensical, but is of little practical consequence) Despite all that though, it's still a crappy item and I'd take anything else over it. EDIT: The overwatch aim penalty was recently revealed to be a multiplicative 70%. This is at odds with the additive/subtractive nature of just about every other aim calculation in the game, but it's verified. This is multiplied by 70% again for dashes - i.e. a 49% multiplier - but that doesn't really come up in single player.

I find injuries plus the operative in Exalt missions, plus the occasional mission reward troopers, add enough so that the occasional KIA doesn't horribly wreck you. But in the event of full squad wipes, yeah, you might find SHIVs (particularly alloy ones) to be game savers. The only time I deliberately take a rookie is when the alternative is a low-ranking sniper (or latterly, any second sniper since I limit myself to one).

Good god, those aren't children, they're sectoids disguised as children!

Had no problems with mine, though the lack of the top guard did confuse me for a moment. But besides that one time I plugged it in to test it, I doubt it'll ever be used again. A case where two style-over-substance designs clash: the USB dogtags lack the upper guard for the connectors. My Samsung convertible keyboard dock has its USB ports on an angled section of the body, where half the support for the bottom part that'd normally be there is missing. (This is a terrible design and even regular USB plugs wobble badly in them) I suspect if I ever tried to use them together, I'd have to physically hold them together for the duration to even get usable contact.

It is unusual that they don't have a slacker backer type system. Though I remember a statement saying pre-release purchases with some extra goodies will be open at some point. And cheers. It's a ten-year-old avatar of a near-twenty-year-old game, so over the long years I've had it, less and less people tend to recognise it. But I have to admit it's blatantly stolen and cropped from Doug the Eagle's famous anti-walkthroughs. P.S. Also did the open for one minute then go to bed thing with this.

This'll be an interesting test of mettle. GOG's censored version of The Witcher 2 could be bypassed by simply going to your GOG user profile and setting your location to any other country. Steam locked down SR4 by switching to the censored version by geolocation, and would switch your version on the fly, so even if you were a tourist visiting Australia and just happened to log into the Steam client while here, no alien drugs for you. UPlay? Your move. That said, it sounds like this is one game where Australians might be asked by some overseas friends to provide gift copies for....

So, just discovered that you can't buy four-packs of games as gifts, you *must* redeem one copy for your own account, even if you already own it. Yeah, screw you too Steam.

Dishonored's plot DLC is outright better than the core game because you don't play a wooden plank in them.

Doesn't work on an IPS screen, amusingly. Had to boot up my decrepit old laptop with a dodgy TN panel to see it.

The hardest enemies in the game are Thinmen! I'm not kidding, relative to when they show up, I fear them most. It's not even close.

I've backed more than a few games out of 'charity', or for a better word perhaps, goodwill. Games I never had any intention of playing, but don't mind supporting. So in that context, it's hard to be disappointed...

So, Ultima Online?

I'm assuming the dude is drunk, hence the "hic" in the middle. Drunk slurring works in a movie when the guy at the bar is acting slushy but not so much (imo) in text. And I don't really mind the meme either. Actually I don't even get/know the joke of that meme - I just know it is a meme because I see people use it with "lol" or whatever attached. "Patrolling the Mojave, almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter"

Turns out I lied about abandoning my game of it and did the same. Then finished the lot, because by the time I went to tackle the first boss, it turns out that was strong enough to tackle all the bosses. I'd still stop short of calling it a "good" game, too many disappointments for that, but a reasonable way to pass some time. I'd say at this point my primary disappointment is that all the four levels are literally the same design, except with different colour schemes.

Well the repeated nature of it is probably down to an editor not (yet?) properly going through it. I'd assume it's a different writer in each of the three cases just not talking to each other when including their 'clever' reference. Actually, the hobo in #2 is just one of those filler NPC with no real interaction and gameplay purpose, right?

The profile is slightly confusing because the bit where it says "so-and-so badge" is actually just a row label, to the right of it is the actual value (which would default to nothing). Just like above it you have the label "Gender" and the actual value to the right of it.

I don't recall having a particular problem with it either. At least, not moreso than with the bit immediately preceding it, arguably worse because it's a recycled level (justifiably, sure, but doesn't make it less boring). Mind you, I'm pretty down on the game in general, so saying I have no specific issue with any given part doesn't mean it's 'good' per se.

I burned out on DXHR after the slog that was the back to back missions in Tai Yong then Picus. The supposed Montreal quest hub really needed to be a thing, perhaps Singapore too if I had gotten that far. Given that there's both DLC and a Director's Cut of the game, it's disappointing they didn't use the opportunity to add those hubs. It does reflect my preferred style of game though, which is to say, this post isn't totally off topic: screw the extended stealthy-shooty bits, I just want to wander around the city talking to people and doing smaller things. Dishonored was a bit of a weird one for me, tackled five (I think) missions so far, with months of not playing in between. The only time I played missions back to back were the Overseer followed up by the Golden Cat sequences. And I liked those missions because of the common areas between them which gave a good sense of the world - and again had some non-shooty-stealthy bits. But then the bridge mission I found to be an awful, linear slog. Then the Boyle mission, which really should have been right up my alley, turned out to be pretty ordinary as well. (What's the point of trying to put together clues when one person you can walk right up to at the start will tell you straight up what the answer is?) FONV I've finished. Finished once. I've probably killed Benny about a dozen times, but then lose interest in that particular save and abandon.

Yeah, the only 'difficult' requirement you have is probably the weight one, which most 15" machines will fail. Only the very premium machines at that size, namely the XPS 15, can even hit the 2kg mark - mostly achieved by using carbon fibre for the body.

Overseer was the first game to be released on DVD, so that's sort of current....

And maybe Steam will turn into a good piece of software eventually too, but it's also still got a long way to go.....

From a selfish perspective, a horror game is basically the only scenario where I wouldn't pledge for the game (well, I might as a 'charity' thing, but certainly not out of interest). That said, my definition of horror is pretty loose - no problems with Bloodlines for example. But if it's what they want to do, then I respect that. Not for the first time anyway, the Aliens game was something I had zero interest in.

That'd just be Alpha Centauri RPG. Which might be awesome.

Sadly perhaps, training roulette probably marginalises supports even more since without the medic abilities, it's pot luck whether you get enough offensive abilities to compensate (which is to say, bullet swarm). But in any event, I found I didn't particularly need the triple medkit, and it's a bit of a chicken and egg situation. Taking another assault (which is probably the closest to support tactically) often means you have both the defensive capability and raw firepower to not take damage in the first place. Most missions end with no damage taken at all, and that's with conventional tactics instead of cheap sniper camping (I restrict myself to one sniper per mission these days).

I ended up dropping supports altogether on my last game. My initial one died and without an immediate replacement I just went with the flow. Got so used to it, that there was no incentive to train one up. With tactical rigging, it makes sense to just give the medkit to the sniper, who can't really use anything but a scope anyway. That said, not saying that I wouldn't use one in a new game. For the first few months, I absolutely want the smoke grenade. But the late game devolves into simple massing of firepower, so the niche disappears.