XCOM 2

[melkathi]

Restarting the PC cleared XCOM problems for now.

 

Engineers are ok. Scientists are pretty useless and the lab is pointless. So little to research. If at least you could staff the Psi Lab with a scientist instead of an engineer, then one of them would have something to do.

All I have left to research is Facility Information, but... I blew all of those up. -7 AVATAR Progress in one month.

 

 

 

 

[Hurlshort]

Yeah, I was getting worried at one point when my avatar timer was about 3 clicks away from completion, but then I did a couple missions and killed an avatar, and I got it down fast.

[Vaeliorin]

I've been on the last couple days of the countdown timer a couple times now, but it was intentional. Figured if I can't keep up with it, might as well save facilities until the last ticks of the timer. Granted, I'm in August and have yet to Skulljack anyone, so...I've kind of been slacking on moving forward.

[melkathi]

Thought I'd just share the reason why I can cheese everything by hiding behind a Sectopod.

 

"Breaker" is my first Specialist, and was my main goto guy for healing and hacking until he got gravely wounded.

Then "Crypto" took over. A dedicated healer she quickly replaced "Breaker" as the main specialist, though often both would join the squad on runs. Then both got wounded.

So my third specialist, who hadn't seen that much action got a shot. "Rogue" - who's main claim to fame had been his attempt to drive the aliens off earth by confronting them with his fashion sense:

 

 

Now that he has gotten two permanent increases to his hacking skill, who were those other two again?

[Humanoid]

My copy finally arrived, I think the delay can be attributed to it arriving via New Zealand. I can tell it's an NZ copy because it has a NZ ratings sticker over the Australian one. Props to 2K for shipping the game properly on four dual-layer DVDs, i.e. basically the complete game. Feels a bit weird to praise a company for doing something that should be standard practice, but after the crap Bethesda pulled with Fallout 4, I'm just happy to see someone do the right thing.

 

On the other hand, it's not a very physically impressive "Deluxe" edition, being just the regular edition plus an empty steelcase being stuck together in a flimsy outer box. But I guess the point is the DLC season pass that comes with it, since it's pretty much priced as the price of the regular game plus the season pass.

[Vaeliorin]

Definitely past the point where difficulty drops off. I think the only thing that might give me grief now (by which I mean do more than minor damage to my troops) is 3+ sectopods or 2+ Gatekeepers, or some combination thereof. I did manage to 1-shot a Gatekeeper with a crit Deadeye shot from a sniper with a plasma lance and AP ammo, but I wouldn't want to rely on that. Did see one of the more hilarious things I've seen so far, though, when an Andromedan suit panicked and ran for it...left a nice straight trail of acid going off the edge of the screen.

 

There are some really dirty combos you can pull off, like Salvo for a grenade to strip armor and destroy cover, followed by Chain Shot, or any source of Rupture plus a gunslinger (5 pistol shots in a round equals +15 damage from Rupture.) A Guardian Specialist using Aid Protocol with Threat Assessment on themselves prior to opening an ambush is pretty nice, too. Let's you overwatch while still having a move if you need it after your cover is blown.

 

I rule all of the world except Europe now (there hasn't been a facility in Europe so I've had no reason to expand there...it's next on my to-do list.) Got a second comms and power set up, only have one spot left in my base, which I assume is for a lab as all I can build now is a lab, comms, and power. I guess it's possible there's a second plot-related structure, but it seems unlikely.

 

I'm really not sure how I feel about how they did psionics. I've got a fully trained Psi Op who's never left the Avenger, and somehow that doesn't feel right. Maybe some sort of mod that limits the number of powers you can train based upon rank, gaining ranks the way normal soldiers do would make them feel a little less easy.

[Darkpriest]

The balancing point of this type of a psi trainig is that if they get wounded their psi training pauses.

 

Obviously if you play in a way that your soldiers are not getting wounded then probably you should increase the difficulty level

Edited February 10, 2016 by Darkpriest

[trulez]

I don't like the fact that I don't know how well I'm doing, is 50% Avatar track completion at my current stage bad/average/good, are my troops getting upgrades fast enough. I feel unnecessary pressure to move forward really fast because I don't know if I'm falling behind.

[Humanoid]

I may have racked up 400+ hours on the previous game, but I gloriously I failed the XCOM2 tutorial. I'm so used to how Long War does explosives (which don't do a damned thing to hard objects without perks) that I freely grenaded the truck I was standing on without a second thought. Ooops.

Edited February 10, 2016 by Humanoid

[melkathi]

I rule all of the world except Europe now (there hasn't been a facility in Europe so I've had no reason to expand there...it's next on my to-do list.) Got a second comms and power set up, only have one spot left in my base, which I assume is for a lab as all I can build now is a lab, comms, and power. I guess it's possible there's a second plot-related structure, but it seems unlikely.

 

 

No spoiler really: there is no second plot structure. That spot really is for the useless lab

I am just putting off going on the final mission sequence, while doing stuff (build a lab for the steam achievement, grabbing the last countries I am missing etc).

 

Also just goofing around in missions now trying out various things for silly screenshots.

[Humanoid]

So yeah, only had time for the two tutorials today, and my intention is to start an Ironman game tomorrow so this save is being scrapped anyway. Obviously I'm way behind everyone else, but first impressions:

 

- Yeah, performance isn't fantastic - 290X (underclocked admittedly), 6700K (stock), 1440p, medium settings perform okay, but that's a low bar to clear. That said:

 

- Maybe it's just the most stop-start, somewhat jerky nature of the animation that add to the impression of poor performance. There seems to be more 'cinematic' pauses when moving, shooting, etc, where the first game would just have your soldiers perform the action no-fuss. It's like a half-second longer to start running, and another half-second to stop running, and it's discombobulating, (I turned the action cam immediately off, of course)

 

- Speaking of which, the bloody overwatch delay is back. I just want to be able to mash the Y key and put my whole squad on overwatch in a heartbeat, but nope.

 

- My first bug was also related to overwatch, in that my remaining soldiers refused to do after the first one did, despite the command being on the action bar. (A quick search revealed the workaround which was to hit the shoot button to get the target selection menu then back out again)

 

- Tactically, the opposition seems to have more HP than XCOM which changes the dynamic of early-game. It seems shootouts are unavoidable at this point: decisive single-turn victories aren't possible to to the volume of hitpoints, so without reliable one-turn knockout blows I can do little but pray the return fire misses. Some people may have disliked the more chess-like aspects of the previous game and wanted something more simulationist like Jagged Alliance say, but I wasn't one of them.

 

- The classic fall-back and rely on the AI engaging idiot mode is impractical due to the time limits. I guess that's the intention but it doesn't feel great to effectively have to tank shots as a result - even hunkering down seems a bad idea with the need to push damage as much as possible. I always considered the mark of good play in the previous game was not letting the aliens get a single shot off (at least not without debuffs), but that's likely well and truly out the window.

 

- UI elements are a bit too small for my liking. I assume this is partly driven by there being no need to accommodate consoles anymore, but things like the alien indicators when targetting are unnecessarily tiny now. Also noticeable in the level-up UI, where expanded description for abilities is hidden behind a tiny little button.

 

- I laughed when Bradford talked up the advantage of CLOSE RANGE.

[melkathi]

The game really is about ganging up on enemies. 4 or 5 xcom operatives vs a standard 3 person advent patrol should result in a kill, and then 2 to 1 odds.

It gets easier once you have some key skills.

[Humanoid]

Yeah, probably end up with a similar difficulty curve in the end, hard (mostly because of risk) early missions, but without the insurance policy of being able to one-shot enemies with grenades in the first month. Standard zero-risk procedure used to be to take shots but save one grenade on the final action if they all miss. No longer possible with these health pools.

[Darkpriest]

Trust me some late game pods will make you cry and tear out your hair if encountered together. I had to sack a couple timers becauae i'd rather have aliens progress on some project than have risky plays tha could end up in a squad wipe of vets. Beware chryssalids, they are scarier than ever...

 

Once i decided to assasinate an enemy VIP instead of capture. There was no way i could kill easily 2 pods next to him so i moved in with phantom sniped from half of the map and ran to evac like crazy.

 

100 intel was not worth the risk.

Edited February 10, 2016 by Darkpriest

[Humanoid]

Perfect timing for this mod to be released for me - removes the pointless animation delays I was complaining about: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=620600092

[melkathi]

My cheesing experience continues.

 

Open the door to reveal 1 Archon and 1 Sectoid. They run for cover, triggering the other group: 1 Shieldbearer, 1 Stun Lancer and 1 Gatekeeper. Eeek! Gatekeeper!

 

My Psi Ops opens a Void Rift hitting the Archon, Sectoid and Gatekeeper. One of them triggers Insanity. The Gatekeeper. Which Insanity effect? Mind Control.

 

I think I need to start streaming this. The audience would get a completely wrong impression of the game

[Darkpriest]

I think you have made some sacrifices to Tzeentch....

[melkathi]

Anybody tried out Proximity Mines?

https://youtu.be/UG_4hdX3NK0

[Humanoid]

Either the line of sight calculations are janky as hell or they've changed the rules in a big way. Anyone have an experience like this? There's no way under the rules as I understand them that an enemy at the purple rectangle should be able to see a soldier at the red rectangle: the adjacent full cover means he's not peeking out, so he should be completely hidden from anyone on the left of him, unless they move down far enough to flank him. http://i.imgur.com/URcdReT.jpg

 

As you can see, my first attempt at Commander Ironman faceplanted at the first hurdle, but I'm calling hax.

[melkathi]

They seem to have changed the rules. Some line of sights are quite questionable. This was the situation when I was wondering how the hell they could see me:

 

 

 

 

[Humanoid]

Please tell me it's something else flanking you and not one of those two guys.

[melkathi]

I could tell you that. But my mum told me not to lie.

Of the two it's the one to the right who shot at me.

 

Edit: that is not to say that the other guy didn't also take a shot

Edited February 11, 2016 by melkathi

[Vaeliorin]

Anybody tried out Proximity Mines?

I've built one (of everything), but never used it. Mimic beacons are too good, though I suppose I could swap out one of my incendiary bombs. Mostly I forgot, though.

 

Anyway, I had what may be the best ambush I ever have. I had 2 pods (7 enemies total) together on the roof of a two-story building. Opened from Ambush with a Blaster Bomb, does massive damage (obviously) and drops all the enemies 2 stories. Out of the initial 7, only a Heavy Mech survived the blast plus fall. It was pretty amazing.

 

Also, I have no idea what the new DLC class is going to be, but I can't imagine what would be good enough to replace a second grenadier. I can't imagine not having Chain Shot and Volatile Mix both available in my squad. The +2 damage from Volatile Mix applies to the DoT damage from grenades (at least fire and acid...I haven't tried gas, as I found Gas Bombs a little underwhelming.) It's lovely dropping an Acid Bomb on a pack of chryssalids and knowing that even though they have 3 hp left they're already dead.

 

Oh, and a word of warning. Apparently at least some Elite Lancers have Shadowstep, as I had one run in between two overwatches to attack someone (he missed, thankfully) without drawing a single shot.

 

I think I'm within 2-3 missions of finishing the game. I'd have probably finished it already but I've been trying to get a second Blaster Bomb and Tracer Rounds from the Proving Grounds. I have permanent "Unassigned Engineers" and "Low Intel" warnings, but given I've got every single facility fully upgraded and staffed, I literally have nowhere to assign my extra Engineer, and I don't really consider over 1000 intel low. I'm pretty sure the Low Intel appeared as soon as I finished my last contact, so I'm assuming it's just something weird in the coding.

 

Edit: Meant to mention, some corpses seem really rare. I'm nearing February 2036, and I've seen a total of 2 berserkers. 1 for autopsy, 1 to make the utility item they're required for.

Edited February 11, 2016 by Vaeliorin

[melkathi]

Berserkers seem to be in a strange transit difficulty tier that you pass too quickly to notice.

A pitty as they are fun enemies.

[Humanoid]

About as relevant as EU Berserkers then, who were scary exactly one time: the first time you meet them and they Bull Rush you through cover.