Xcom

[Deraldin]

I lost my top sniper to a cyberdisc today

 

This game can be pretty tricky even on normal, especially with the tougher enemies.

 

I've come really close to losing people and countries, but pulled everything off so far. I have 4 countries at 5 panic right now with 2 more at 4 panic. On the bright side, I have 5 sats ready to go and a terror mission to finish off.

[Bos_hybrid]

This game can be pretty tricky even on normal, especially with the tougher enemies.

 

Sort of, I finished the normal run with only 6 troops dead, 3 from the tutorial. I'm doing classic now, but it still doesn't seem really hard. First time through(Normal) I lost Mexico and India, at the same period in Classic, I've still got them all and at low level panic. With only one dead rookie, due to saving a civilian on a terror mission. The funny thing is I have a more balanced roster on classic due to more injuries/longer down time. On my first normal run, a party wipe would of been a disaster, this time while bad it's not a game over.

 

I'm tempted to put it on Impossible, but when that just equal the padding the AI with bonuses I'm not that interested. If it was just more enemies, longer research time, higher cost on items and smarter AI, I would be more interested.

[alanschu]

Classic can be pretty hit and miss I find. I have a really good Classic game going on at work, but have had some disasters going on at home. Ironman though.

[Malcador]

Interesting bug, got stuck on the alien turn and then nothing happened, so there went my Ironman game. The next game got scuppered too when my skyranger froze above the base and I never returned to the base view - save just led to the bug again. Rather annoying, I must say.

 

I think I may have pushed the story a bit too quick though, will try it slow this time.

[Bos_hybrid]

Interesting bug, got stuck on the alien turn and then nothing happened, so there went my Ironman game. The next game got scuppered too when my skyranger froze above the base and I never returned to the base view - save just led to the bug again. Rather annoying, I must say.

 

These bugs are why I didn't go Ironman in my new playthrough. Rather I just don't reload when crap hits the fan.

Edited October 16, 2012 by Bos_hybrid

[mrmud]

I lost my top sniper to a cyberdisc today

 

This game can be pretty tricky even on normal, especially with the tougher enemies.

Whats with cyberdisk and entourage teleporting into fights from no where?

I had a tough fight (because I did not realise that putting people in psy eval does not unequip them and subsequently I was down 3 sets of armors/plasma rifles) with a muton berserker all up in my face when suddenly a a cyberdisk spawns right on top of my squad.

[Rosbjerg]

I'm more afraid of those disk than those giant robots - they come out of nowhere and murder rookies like they are made of cardboard boxes or something.

 

putting people in psy eval does not unequip them

 

Yeah that had me very confused first time it happened, I thought I'd lost 3 sets of armour.. Luckily I had resources to build spares.

[Hurlshort]

Huh, I was able to change the loadouts of people in psy eval, I thought.

Edited October 16, 2012 by Hurlshot

[alanschu]

Interesting bug, got stuck on the alien turn and then nothing happened, so there went my Ironman game. The next game got scuppered too when my skyranger froze above the base and I never returned to the base view - save just led to the bug again. Rather annoying, I must say.

 

I think I may have pushed the story a bit too quick though, will try it slow this time.

 

Ouch. I've been lucky. I have only had one crash and it didn't affect my saved game.

[alanschu]

Yeah you should be able to, from the Barracks menu.

[WorstUsernameEver]

I'm not sure what is going on, my first game I found very difficult and ended up losing just before I would have built the Gollop Chamber.. and now, somehow after restarting it (got the base bonus for instant autopsies and interrogations, which should cut some of the research time and earn me some decent credits.. hopefully) and I'm doing.. much better? Only two soldiers dead so far and I'm prepping for the alien base invasion.

[Jackalmonkey]

I'm not sure what is going on, my first game I found very difficult and ended up losing just before I would have built the Gollop Chamber.. and now, somehow after restarting it (got the base bonus for instant autopsies and interrogations, which should cut some of the research time and earn me some decent credits.. hopefully) and I'm doing.. much better? Only two soldiers dead so far and I'm prepping for the alien base invasion.

Very similar experience here - the game was just suddenly easier when I restarted after seeing my whole team spontaneously gutted in a Terror mission (despite a lot of save-scumming). Got a good game now and working on Gollop but no idea how close that puts me to the endgame.

 

Open Question: Heavy - worst class? Or am I just misusing him? The rockets seem a real turn-off given that they tend to destroy loot, and I love the Suppression ability but Support seems to bring that just fine.

[alanschu]

Rockets only destroy loot if you actually kill the guy. I love them for their HEAT ammo (which helps the rocket too). I took out an exposed Cyberdisc with a single shot one time with a Heavy Laser equipped heavy.

 

Great for Sectopods too, especially with double fire ability. Their AOE suppression is also great, and at Colonel you can get an ability that makes your suppression cause damage. Very nice to suppress a Sectopod and watch the drones beside him just die.

[Hurlshort]

When I'm up against a squad of sectoid commanders or mutons, I'm more than happy to blow them up and lose some gear. My heavies, especially once they get two rockets per mission, do a lot of damage and can do so from a nice range.

 

Although for some reason I ended up with 4 straight rookies going heavy when they leveled. Now I have too many low level heavies and not enough assault guys. I only have two assault guys, they rock, but they take turns in the med bay.

[alanschu]

Rockets are also good for softening up groups. They won't outright kill that pack of mutons, but they'll take them all down to low health.

 

I use grenades in the early game to take thinmen and floaters down to 1 health.

[Majek]

Yay finally i can play too. And no ironman for me. I had a brave rookie down to 1hp killing thinmen and then he just had to run through the poisonous cloud they leave behind ;_; Can't deal with deaths like that.

[Rosbjerg]

At my second game (classic + ironman) too and it's going a lot better than normal, I think it's because you play a lot smarter..

 

How are nationalities divided for you guys? I basically only get people from Saudi Arabia , also I'm a little sad that there's Swedes and Norwegians in the game.. but no Danes.

[alanschu]

Nationalities seem fairly random. Japan has probably come up the most frequent for me though.

[Bos_hybrid]

How are nationalities divided for you guys? I basically only get people from Saudi Arabia , also I'm a little sad that there's Swedes and Norwegians in the game.. but no Danes.

 

Pretty good range of nationalities. I think it might have to do with what base you pick.

 

First game I was in Europe, and my barracks was filled with lots of Europeans. Second time I'm in Asia and my barracks has a higher percentage of Asians.

 

My current 'Alpha team', consists of an Aussie sniper(I was surprised to see an Australian pop up), Japanese assault, Brazilian assault, Russian support, Belgium support(named Van Damme no I didn't change it) and an Irish Heavy. I just wish it wasn't all American accents.

[Fish Of Doom]

dunno if it's been mentioned yet, but here's something that might help some people(mostly in the early game): when one sectoid is boosting another, killing the one doing the boosting will also result in the second one dying. assaults with run and gun, or good snipers are a godsend here.

 

i've finished a playthrough on normal (went until a terror site repeatedly sodomized my entire team, then i activated x-com heroes and stomped my way through every single encounter until i finished it ), and have now started one on easy using a mod to activate second wave features (using mainly the randomizing ones).

 

also, ufopedia has the entire tech tree up: http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Research_(EU2012)

 

btw, what's everyone using as a squad set-up? i'm somewhat fond of one sniper, one heavy, two assaults and two supports.

[Deraldin]

I like to roll with 2 snipers. In my first run the rest of my squad was typically 2 support, 1 assault, 1 heavy. In my current run I've been much more experimental with squad composition. I only have 5 slots open right now, and with two taken up with snipers, I've swapped around the other three. If I plan on capturing anything, 3 supports. If everything is going to die, then 3 heavies.

[Bos_hybrid]

I like to roll with 2 snipers.

 

2 snipers + Double Tap + plasma sniper rifle = I win mode.

[Hurlshort]

I feel naked without 2 assaults, I find they work best as a team anyways. I like having two snipers too, so usually I roll with one support and one heavy.

[alanschu]

I like 2 assaults and 2 support.

[WorstUsernameEver]

I like to equip heavies with scopes and make them all supressing/holo-targeting badasses, but I for the life of me don't understand the benefits of the shredder rocket. Since I've had good experiences with heavies this playthrough (especially when well-equipped, they do a lot of damage), I don't think I would quite call them the worst class. Support, that's a class I still don't really know how to use, though I feel like I'm slowly learning. Still not sure of when I'm supposed to toss those smoke grenades but in doubt, I'm at least using them!