Xcom

[Rosbjerg]

Anyone used a SHIV much? I just started playing around with one. It doesn't get cover bonuses, but the aliens seem to just ignore it for the most part.

 

I have a hover one, which I take on missions if I need some heavy firepower and my heavies are out, they are actually really effective - especially on terror missions as they have a larger move radius and can save civilians (and take a heavy beating).. they can quickly move to flank an enemy and just plow them with the plasma minigun. Plus you can heal then with the arch thrower with a foundry upgrade. But they also essentially take away experience from soldiers as they don't level up, so I only use them for very critical dangerous missions.

[Fish Of Doom]

wouldn't SHIVs be a good idea for when you have max level troops, then? both for using them to replace them when they're injured, or in case you don't need to worry about xp gain anymore because all your current guys are max level (which i'm guessing would be pretty rare given the attrition rate, barring losing all the others)

[Malcador]

Used the SHIV in the alien base, worked well as a probe of sorts.

[mr insomniac]

Hmm, my game i felt was going good, I only had laser after the alien base. is plasma much better?

 

As for my game, it took a turn for the worse when I went to a ufo landing and got most of my a-team wiped out (apart from the two currently going through psi studies).

 

That left me with a team without a heavy (I had four snipers, two assaults and two support, but only unlocked one heavy) and suddenly I was outclassed on every mission. So I couldn't get my rookies to level up and had no alloys and no way to get more. Let's just say I think I'm starting over again.

 

A single bad mission can really mess you up.

Exact same thing happened to me. I watched four guys, who'd been with me from the beginning, get wiped out during the ufo landing mission. For the first time in over a decade I was yelling at the monitor as I watched them fall. argh. I'm thinking I should restart and manage assets a little better.

[mrmud]

@ Hurlshot -

In some missions, particularly escort ones, aliens will seem to come from no where sometimes, jumping out of thin air.

if you have some crew on overwatch they usually get blasted.

And the game gives you a turn to react before the newly-appeared aliens get one.

No

I am talking about the bug that makes enemies spawn randomly inside your sight radius and sometimes inside your squad. This is something that seemingly can happen on any mission. For me it has happened on UFO missions and enemies have ranged from Cyberdisks to Sectopods.

This is not a scripted event that is preceded by the base saying that "enemies are closing in" like on the bomb and protect vip missions. This is a bug and a damn dangerous one.

Edited October 21, 2012 by mrmud

[Majek]

Hmm, my game i felt was going good, I only had laser after the alien base. is plasma much better?

 

As for my game, it took a turn for the worse when I went to a ufo landing and got most of my a-team wiped out (apart from the two currently going through psi studies).

 

That left me with a team without a heavy (I had four snipers, two assaults and two support, but only unlocked one heavy) and suddenly I was outclassed on every mission. So I couldn't get my rookies to level up and had no alloys and no way to get more. Let's just say I think I'm starting over again.

 

A single bad mission can really mess you up.

Exact same thing happened to me. I watched four guys, who'd been with me from the beginning, get wiped out during the ufo landing mission. For the first time in over a decade I was yelling at the monitor as I watched them fall. argh. I'm thinking I should restart and manage assets a little better.

Or use cheats to summon the 4 great XCOM heroes.

[Fish Of Doom]

Hmm, my game i felt was going good, I only had laser after the alien base. is plasma much better?

 

As for my game, it took a turn for the worse when I went to a ufo landing and got most of my a-team wiped out (apart from the two currently going through psi studies).

 

That left me with a team without a heavy (I had four snipers, two assaults and two support, but only unlocked one heavy) and suddenly I was outclassed on every mission. So I couldn't get my rookies to level up and had no alloys and no way to get more. Let's just say I think I'm starting over again.

 

A single bad mission can really mess you up.

Exact same thing happened to me. I watched four guys, who'd been with me from the beginning, get wiped out during the ufo landing mission. For the first time in over a decade I was yelling at the monitor as I watched them fall. argh. I'm thinking I should restart and manage assets a little better.

Or use cheats to summon the 4 great XCOM heroes.

 

oh yes. 2x meier, 2x zander, 1x levine and 1x kelly = PWN.

[alanschu]

There does seem to be a bug where guys pop up unexpectedly. I haven't seen it, but my friend had a wounded Muton just end up beside his guy with the 2 HP he had remaining.

 

Though it made killing him pretty trivial haha.

[WorstUsernameEver]

The game *is* pretty unpolished, unfortunately. It's my only real gripe with the game (granted, the mechanics aren't *perfect* either, but all the complaints I have on them are minor).

[TrashMan]

You've probably already heard of it Gorth but Xenonaughts may be more up your alley. They released a playable demo when they did their kickstarter and it's looking good.

They talk the talk. Unfortunately trying the 'alpha' demo is only an option if you pre-order the game. Sort of a catch 22

 

Recent violence against X-Com and Jagged Alliance has left me with very little expectations. If the Carmageddon Reincarnation project fizzles, then it is indeed time to build a mausoleum for great games

 

 

Given that I am in the Alpha (soon to be Beta), I can tell you that they indeed do more than just talk.

 

The game flows and ffeels really really good.

It's a true seuqel to the old X-Com in all aspects. Except it has better air combat and graphics

 

 

Speaking of which, the nex XCOM is a good game, but it lacks freeomd and depth. The AI also cheats like hell and the dificulty is artificial as hell.

 

JA: BiA is a good game too, altough it too lacks the depth - altough in this case it's simply due to being rushed and lacking some features and polish. Also the leveling/repair mechanics has been changed to a far, far worse one. With a few changes and a bit more polish, it would be a worthy sucessor.

And no, the real-time tactical planing system is not a problem at all. It works well.

Edited October 22, 2012 by TrashMan

[Gorth]

You've probably already heard of it Gorth but Xenonaughts may be more up your alley. They released a playable demo when they did their kickstarter and it's looking good.

They talk the talk. Unfortunately trying the 'alpha' demo is only an option if you pre-order the game. Sort of a catch 22

 

Recent violence against X-Com and Jagged Alliance has left me with very little expectations. If the Carmageddon Reincarnation project fizzles, then it is indeed time to build a mausoleum for great games

 

 

Given that I am in the Alpha (soon to be Beta), I can tell you that they indeed do more than just talk.

 

The game flows and ffeels really really good.

It's a true seuqel to the old X-Com in all aspects. Except it has better air combat and graphics

 

 

Speaking of which, the nex XCOM is a good game, but it lacks freeomd and depth. The AI also cheats like hell and the dificulty is artificial as hell.

 

JA: BiA is a good game too, altough it too lacks the depth - altough in this case it's simply due to being rushed and lacking some features and polish. Also the leveling/repair mechanics has been changed to a far, far worse one. With a few changes and a bit more polish, it would be a worthy sucessor.

And no, the real-time tactical planing system is not a problem at all. It works well.

Well, I bought the XCOM game, but I haven't had time to play it yet. Story of my life, always so little time

 

I tried demo when it was released on Steam, it didn't impress me much, but I trust alanschu's taste in such matters, as we seem to have some "overlap" in preferences. You are however the first to say something not negative about the JA:BIA game though.

[Majek]

oh yes. 2x meier, 2x zander, 1x levine and 1x kelly = PWN.

Hmm do aliens get better faster if you cheat with them? Or is it tied to time spent and/or your actual tech level? edit: meh. It would be a real cheat if rookies could use their armor, weapons could wait for research, but rookies with that armor would be fun

Edited October 22, 2012 by Majek

[Fish Of Doom]

nope, the aliens stay as always, and you then proceed to slaughter them :D. alien advancement is tied to time and to which plot objectives you've completed, afaik.

 

something that would be hilarious to try would be an entire team of sid meiers spamming mind control :D

[mr insomniac]

Argh, I hate having all my good soldiers die right before what I know is gonna be a tough story. It's bad enough having to take maybe one rookie, nevermind three or four. I'm not playing ironman, but in the spirit of the game, I'm not reloading after tough losses, because sometimes there are rewards. Sometimes you get lucky and can get a couple missions where the reward is a new officer.

[TrashMan]

Well, I bought the XCOM game, but I haven't had time to play it yet. Story of my life, always so little time

 

I tried demo when it was released on Steam, it didn't impress me much, but I trust alanschu's taste in such matters, as we seem to have some "overlap" in preferences.

 

My personal mummary:

 

Good, fun game, if a bit overpriced.

Xenonauts look like it will diliver on the X-Com sucessor fully

 

 

You are however the first to say something not negative about the JA:BIA game though.

 

That's because the internets is driven by hate and frail egos, and not by objective thinking.

 

I know poeple who yelled that "JA:BiA is garbage and betrayl" the second they heard it won't be turn-based.

 

On the internets, people take everything personally. Expectation managment is important for a company, lest they suffer the wrath of the playerbase. To some, if the game dissapoints them in some manner - even beefore they play it - it is a betrayl. A personal insult. The game and developer exist only to be hated from there on.

The itenstiy, the fanatiscm can be mind-boggling sometimes. I've seen ammounts of bile and hate towards products and developers that would make baby Jesus cry.

 

 

Personally, I think JA2 is the best tacticall squad based game ever. I played every turn-based game worthy of note and I LOVE the turn-based system.

But I'm objective enough to know it has weakneses and cheap exploits.

 

A real-time with pause system works great too and is in may ways more realistic, and looses none of tactical planing. It's basicly infinite TU's and everyone takes turns at the same time.

In fact, it requires more beforehand preparation and positioning. The time chart JA:BiA has is a great thing, as it lets you plan and coordiante.

 

The developer dropped hte ball in other things. It's still a good game, but JA2's shoes are really BIG shoes to fill.

 

 

The above story repeats everywhere. Just take a look at all the games that got redicolous amount of hate recently.

 

Duke Nukem Forever - average shooter. Good humor. Yet on metacritic it bombed as people gave it 1's and 0'.

Dragon Age 2 - dissapointing, many bad mechanics and decisions, but still average.

Etc..

On a scale of 1 to 10, the average should be 5. Yet everything is skewed.

 

 

When people give these rating they don't THINK. They don't compare it to the average game of that genre, they don't compare it's mechanics to the the mechanics used in other similar games.

 

The same applies for rating of 10/10, which si the other extreeme - fanbosy that see no wrong in their favorite game.

[melkathi]

Trashman, did you ever get to play Frozen Synapse?

What is your take on that game's approach to Turn Based combat?

[alanschu]

Reminded me a lot of Robosport! :D

[melkathi]

Reminded me a lot of Robosport! :D

 

I was too busy playing Duck Tales at the time

Edited October 24, 2012 by melkathi

[alanschu]

Oh GOD. I was not very good at that game at all!

[melkathi]

We had a tournament going.

Both singles and doubles. Took turns playing trying to get the most cash. Or take turns as a team. A friend was extremly good at diving and finding that rare coin that would give you an extreme boost at the start. He'd team with the best pilot in the class... took me a while to get my game to a level where I could compete with 'em.

 

... kinda strange looking back and seeing what games we would turn into "multi-player e-sports"

 

But what were we to do? Play North and South all day?

 

 

(ok going to let people get back to XCOM )

Edited October 24, 2012 by melkathi

[Rosbjerg]

Lost my iron man game - Everything was going great, I decided to to try and capture a muton, but suddenly I was ambushed by a disk. My entire team of best soldiers were killed. The following turns a sattelite got shot, I lost 2 territories and another team was wiped..

 

But what were we to do? Play North and South all day?

 

Did you know it's now

for Iphones?

[melkathi]

Lost my iron man game - Everything was going great, I decided to to try and capture a muton, but suddenly I was ambushed by a disk. My entire team of best soldiers were killed. The following turns a sattelite got shot, I lost 2 territories and another team was wiped..

 

Reading about the X-COM games you guys play makes me feel as if I was watching some sci-fi story unfold where the human commanders escape to alternate realities each time the aliens overrun the reality they were currently defending.

Reminds me a bit of Now Wait For Last Year by Philip K. ****.

 

 

But what were we to do? Play North and South all day?

 

Did you know it's now

for Iphones?

 

Hmmm... and I have a Galaxy... buy iPhone for retro gaming or keep the android? Decissions decissions

[TrashMan]

Trashman, did you ever get to play Frozen Synapse?

What is your take on that game's approach to Turn Based combat?

 

Actually no.

I've been mening to look it up when I get some time.

[melkathi]

Trashman, did you ever get to play Frozen Synapse?

What is your take on that game's approach to Turn Based combat?

 

Actually no.

I've been mening to look it up when I get some time.

 

Hmm, got a spare copy on Steam if you are interested. (if I remember correclty)

Edited October 24, 2012 by melkathi

[Orchomene]

I'm trying the second wave options mod (at Nexus). Some pretty good things to give the game a bit more of variability.