is there an XCOM thread?

I'm assuming no, but it's difficult to search for. I just downloaded UFO DEFENSE (like 10 MB dl btw), having never played any of these games, and thought i'd get a lil ass discussion going~

I could swear we have had discussions but can't remember at all which thread it was. Anyway, here's my advice - get the DOS version and run it in DOSBox (most official sites selling it are doing this anyway), the Windows version that came out later has annoying DirectDraw bugs that usually break it now.

Try to get a version that includes the original alien screams (which for some weird reason were taken out in the last official versions) or patch them back in. Not essential but the original screams are sooo much better.

Also, prepare to die a lot. This game's amazingly unforgiving at first, but even so, your dudes will die a lot at the beginning no matter what since you start off so weak. Don't worry about having to restart (not just reload) your game, you'll end up doing that many times before you can make it to the final battle since it's very possible to get completely overwhelmed late into the game.

it was discussed a fair bit in one of the video game year polls

so that's a no

youve grown so insightful

ufo defense is a dope game btw but nhex is right - its crazy hard at first

so not who i expected to start this thread

interesting that in er rebelstar tactical command GBA which is more or less just a series of x com combat missions they take, like, eight missions to explain how the battle system works

http://gbamedia.gamespy.com/gba/image/article/619/619957/irebelstar-tactical-commandi-dev-diary-1-20050527112043585-000.jpg

ufo defense is kind of that unfriendly bcz you're basically just dumped in it with a completely incomprehensible interface with like thirty buttons on it and you spend the first three missions leaving yr doods outside doors at the end of yr turn and watching the same alien come out and shoot them

i'd love a .gif of that actually

Keep meaning to grab that one but I always forget about it. Weird how the whole overworld/strategy base element was something that was never part of the Gallops' vision of X-Com, introduced by the publisher (and it's never shown up again in their games before or since) but I think it's really essential to the formula.

just beat this on beginner (out of the following settings):

1) beginner
2) experienced
3) veteran
4) genius
5) superhuman

gonna try it on veteran now, i think. ended up being a lot easier than i thought, but again - beginner. also, most engrossed i've been by a game since i was obsessed w/fallout a lil while back. i don't have as much to say about it though - the squad based gameplay reminds me of cannon fodder (lol)

jeez, you really have been doing nothing else, have you. did you go to gamefaqs at any point or manage to finish it in a fortnight on your own?

this was always on my meant to play list too.

on my own, i'm not sure there's much i could get out of the walkthroughs anyway (tho i did check its listing on gamefaqs, surprisingly sparse)

It's probably best that way - figuring out what weapons work, what to sell or research is definitely fun, if quite punishing when you get it wrong (especially if you're six months in and getting your bases attacked every week).

Julian Gallop is making a turn-based strategy game that's going to be a 3DS launch title:

Publishers run a mile from anything with turn-based mechanics - it is regarded as too niche. RTS games pretty much killed off turn-based strategy games in the mid-90s - but now even RTS games are regarded as niche. So all my experience working turn-based games from 1983-1997 is now somewhat obsolete, despite the success of X-Com. However, I am now working on a turn-based tactical RPG which will be a 3DS launch title. Thanks to 'Advance Wars', 'Fire Emblem' and 'Final Fantasy Tactics' it seems turn-based games are not totally dead - at least for Nintendo handhelds. I would also argue that Pokemon has a lot of parallels with X-Com in its game system, despite being classified as an 'RPG'. The core of Pokemon is a turn-based tactical battle enriched by a sophisticated higher level meta-game that allows players to experiment with many game elements and combinations of forces - and Pokemon is the second most successful game franchise in the world. If done right, would an X-Com game with a turn-based combat system be successful? Absolutely!

gonna try it on veteran now, i think.

Didn't this game have a notorious bug that always converted your save games to Beginner mode? How did that replay go?

on my own, i'm not sure there's much i could get out of the walkthroughs anyway (tho i did check its listing on gamefaqs, surprisingly sparse)

― FUCKIN 'TALLICA BRO (cankles), Tuesday, July 7, 2009 8:01 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ha when i played this i was wed to the official strategy guide (came in the box)

reviving because i'm annoyed i forgot to buy the complete x-com pack during the steam sale

was looking forward to playing apocalypse again, which is a totally underrated and kind of neat game

- the shift from post-communion aliens/military sf to 50s b-movie monsters/jetson future-environments looks like a better idea now than it did
- likewise it's easier to forgive the graphics now they aren't meant to be the graphics for, like, an actual new game, ha
- i think every sprite in this game does a good job of depicting whatever essential attribute/feeling you end up associating with seeing that creature. at least the essential OH SHIT reactions one gets from the two-frame animations of the brainsuckers in the early game or the exploding dogs in the mid game really work, so something must have gone right
- the research tree is an interesting choice. the new aliens use a lot of organic tech so rather than looking at alien weapons and waiting to steal them what you do is research all the alien life cycle stages to develop toxin weapons
- having the little PEW PEW toxin guns melt off their damn alien faces at the halfway point when you finally catch up on tech is really, really satisfying

i think i stopped playing it when i realised that the city factions were kind of broken and pointless: though they were at least A Good Idea. the geopolitical aspect of the first two was kind of lacking, after all. FRANCE IS PLEASED WITH YOUR PERFORMANCE. GERMANY IS DISPLEASED WITH YOUR PERFORMANCE AND HAS REDUCED YOUR FUNDING. (there was a flash game i played, and a sequel to it, where you controlled the mutations of a virus, trying to cause a pandemic and exterminate humanity. the second game boasted it had 'more realistic' politics, human actions, etc. i lost in my first playthrough because a region they had arbitrarily designated 'The Middle East' had closed its borders. oops)

also the endgame missions were kind of ... suddenly the game was a lot less reactive. that said, it was a smart idea to develop an endgame campaign rather than a Final Mission, those were done. (i never got to the Final Mission on terror from the deep, actually.) (actually, i never even beat an alien base on terror from the deep, because god they were annoying.)

i still can't decide if terror from the deep was a series of design choices made to make the game difficult and frustrating (interesting sequel design route: good work on the marathon! our new game is an ultramarathon and also we are going to break your ankles with this hammer) -- or whether the dev team just really, really didn't understand the logic of the first game

because no one posted on this thread i spent like two hours today looking at x-com let's plays

oh would you look at that

http://store.steampowered.com/sub/964/
http://www.gamersgate.co.uk/DDB-XCOM/x-com-complete-pack-bundle

rock paper shotgun notes "You probably don't want Enforcer or Interceptor"

wait

what?

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/01/05/february-cover-revealed-xcom-enemy-unknown.aspx

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/01/06/the-new-xcom-my-needy-little-wishlist/#more-87746

bit of a non-article really but

5) Destructible environments, but more so. It’s something the unofficial sequels never pulled off, but it’s an essential part of X-COM. Not just as a feature, but also as part of building the sense that X-COM are a taskforce with free reign – respect for civilian property doesn’t stand in the way of hunting aliens. I wouldn’t seeing property damage contribute to funding level assessments, though: international funding’s an aspect of the game that could stand to be fleshed out.

13) Minimal story and exposition. Everything that needs to be told can come from Researching alien items and lifeforms to study and act upon at my leisure. I don’t need a big cutscene explaining what and where Cydonia is, I just want a brief message saying that flying there is now possible.

i think it's really interesting how much the player's narrativization of the experience is a big part of the first three games: but also just how contingent that was on the narrative and the world being the least developed part of the game (it being something the gollops were pushed to add by microprose, & that they've never done in another game; also one that's only given the basic level of features, and that other ideas they had (you were going to be also commanding intelligence aspects beyond 'an alien base has been discovered!') were omitted from

also, i bought the first game and apocalypse. again.

I have hilarious memories of quitting and restarting from a save every time I lost a soldier in xcom (which happened like 90 billion times) because starting off fresh with a new rookie solider was a terrible thought.. damn I loved xcom..

Ok, this series of interviews has got me decently hyped
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/01/xcom-enemy-unknown-preview/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/02/firaxis-xcom-preview/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/03/time-for-a-change-firaxis-on-xcom-part-3/

Neat!

been thinking of replaying xcom lately!

im more interested in xenonauts (http://www.xenonauts.com/) than the firaxis xcom, but i got some cautious optimism goin on with the latter. the xcom shooter will of course be an unspeakable abomination

the lead developer on the firaxis one seems like a mensch

the lead developer on the firaxis one seems like a mensch

yeah he really seems like he 'gets it'

also:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/12/jan/xgeo.jpg

yeeeeaaaaaaaahh

i mean it's pretty rare for me to be hyped about a videogame, i suppose i should try and get hyped about one that's not a remake

as long as the combat is turn-based i would probably enjoy it, but they do appear to be making a real xcom game. its exciting though i keep having to remember to maintain proper jadedness levels

they did remove time units, and you're restricted to basically two actions per soldier per turn, which sounds somewhat radical

still, i got a very good vibe from those interviews

Wow, had no idea a new one was in the works! That's nuts!

Past X-Com discussion - -

1993 VIDEO GAMES
1994 VIDEO GAMES POLL (yes it's in both, somehow)
and a little bit here un-retired

been browsing thru videos about the firaxis remake. am now recklessly confident in it from what i have seen and heard. this is going to fucking rule.

ufo defense is kind of that unfriendly bcz you're basically just dumped in it with a completely incomprehensible interface with like thirty buttons on it and you spend the first three missions leaving yr doods outside doors at the end of yr turn and watching the same alien come out and shoot them

RTFM

good shit here, comes w/ free x-com demo

http://boxerapp.com/

they added MT-32 support to Boxer? cooooool.

RTFM

my copy didn't come with the manual!

though to be fair it did come with the 400 page strategy guide but that seemed kind of a heavy investment, time-wise

http://www.xcomufo.com/x1manual.pdf

133 pages!

RTBFM

the tutorial in there basically just shows you exactly how to end up in the situation i described. there is a note on the importance of opportunity fire on p96, i suppose.

october 9th for new one.

so weird - so it's actually coming out way before the FPS reboot, which got pushed to next year

i got TFTD going on my MBP but it was much more boring than i remember, also the scrolling and animations were too fast or too slow on any cpu setting

that fps reboot is going to be a steaming pile of shit.. or vaporware.

the firaxis game looks like the bees knees tho.. not sure how I will be able to get my hands on it as I am a mac user, but firaxis is somewhat mac friendly so I have my fingers crossed.

is x-com: apocalypse any good? enforcer and interceptor look rather weak and i can't get enemy unknown working on my mbp

enemy unknown can work, you gotta try harder mannnnn

i maybe need to find a non-CD version

the original works great via boxer on osx. amazon is selling 5 x-coms (1, tftd, apocalypse and two more i never played) for 4 bucks right now, steam key, i d/led it via mac steam and put the actual files in boxer. perfect.

i bought the set on steam but it would not let me run it. how do i d/l the files? i am a steam noob.

i was able to convince the mac steam to d/l the files even though it's the wrong platform. i think i just right-clicked and told it to get the content. one's it's downloaded the files will be in wherever steam keeps its files (depends on yr version of osx, it's easily googlable) and install via boxer

i got bored halfway thru writing that so reading it is probably worse so d/l this, unzip, run thru boxer, ignore any savegames:

http://www.mediafire.com/?q5f5atp57u5rzdd

not positive that will work but maybe?

i am exactly as bad at this game now as i was in 1994. jesus. just burning thru recruits.

hahahah, yessss, that was me exactly the last time i played this.

that doesn't necessarily mean you're bad at all! the game seems pretty explicitly designed for your early dudes to be mercilessly killed

"Don't remember anyone's name before captain" is the motto, i think

apocalypse is worth a look if you can get stuff running

i seem to have gone off on one about it in one of the other threads

i've tried and failed to get into Apocalypse so many times... couldn't get past the weird graphic style and semi-realtime engine

thank you adam

I wasn't a fan of the semi-realtime, so I just switch it off and go full-on turn-based. I totally love it though. My main downfall is typically renaming recruits after my friends - kinda throws out the "Don't remember anyone's name before captain" option.

i think the pausable realtime is a lot more forgiving than the turn-based. was thinking about this earlier, it's funny how most of the late ufos just turn into parking your people outside and waiting for a hundred aliens to run out the door. i can't decide if this makes more or less sense on a diagetic level than sectoids standing with plasma guns and just waiting for you to open the door

that only worked for the smaller ships in the early game. the aliens wise up fast to that tactic, throwing grenades and bunker bombs into your dudes for crazy massacres...

worked all the way up, just pause while you work out where stuff is going to land and play some highly realistic grenade catch

that doesn't work unless you kill every single alien on that floor. and even then, aliens had a crazy habit of just chucking them in blind if you killed enough of them. especially once they got the guided missiles. how are you gonna catch the grenades that explode in 0 turns?

you're only really safe if you spread your guys out enough so that only a handful will get caught in a blast impact. damn those suicide discs!

we are talking about different videogames.

oh... right. sorry.

TFTD was okay underwater but then got mega fucking hard once you start doing the shore missions

enemy unknown was not too bad until they started attacking your base

i think the key to this game is just taking 10x as long to do anything as you want so you have leftover energy for suppressive firing

largely, yes, haha

cruise ship terror missions basically ruined TFTD, too long and insanely difficult

like if you just want to move two dudes across a valley or into a building you have to send two guys over to those guys, have them kneel and set up for surpressive fire, send one of the guys 1/4 of the way out to draw fire, set him up to surpressive, then send the second guy out there, set him up on overwatch, then send the two guys in back halfway to the target while the other two dudes cover them. then repeat 2 times to get all four dudes across. no rambo shit!

then of course once you master working in tight four man formation they suddenly master putting a dude at every bottleneck that just hucks grenades into your formation

the best is when you open the door of your flying sub and someone offscreen immediately fires a missile into it

was apocalypse at all like syndicate? that game was also the bomb.

that waypoint guided missle launcher in this game was insane

pc demo! this is so awesome.

uh oh, critical danger to free time impending

Not Enough Time Units

Shit, there's no way the work laptop will be able to run this, is there

I'm curious where Sid's cameo will be in the game

i've heard it runs on shitty/old hardware. sadly i am mac dude so gotta wait for the console version.

giant bomb gameplay stream archive. the dudes firaxis sent over seem to know what they're talking about and the game itself looks fantastic.

oops giant bomb

it ran on my laptop, which is a £200 dell more than a year old

otoh it was kind of eh

five hour download for one fifteen minute tutorial mission and one twenty minute very easy mission, and you get sort of walked around the base but get to make no decisions

this is not a very good way of selling x-com to me

exciting

put on osx please

has anyone read anything enlightening on the differences between the pc and console versions?

From what I understand the PC version will have a more zoomed out tactical view in combat, from the assumption that you're playing close to a high-res monitor

hey yall this feels basically like x-com with a modern interface.

how are the base/research-y bits?

i only put like 3 hours in so my information is incomplete but so far the research is standard, x days to research tech y but there's a resource called "scientists" that affects x. for equipment manufacture/base expansion there's money but also a resource called "engineers" that limits what you can create. there's a bunch of stuff i need to build but i need to get more engineers first.

the base is an "ant farm" rather than the top down. also no one's going to attack your base, at least so i've read.

stat/skill progression for the troops is pretty engaging.

exciting

put on osx please

― the late great, Tuesday, September 25, 2012 10:05 PM (2 weeks ago)

okay, i should get this then.

everyone please name one of your squaddies 'cankles'

your base advisors are totally old school strategy game cheesy, totally straightfaced dudes

the tutorial is about an hour, they ease you in REALLY slow. i dig it so far.

http://m.kotaku.com/5950392/xcom-has-hd-cutscenes-but-theyre-hiding

Gotta run a batch file and you can run 1080p cutscenes on PC

everyone please name one of your squaddies 'cankles'

i am all for this

bought this on a whim the other night after a couple people i trust on games were excitedly talking about it. havent played any of the old ones but sounds like something i'd enjoy at least for a bit

It's way more accessible than the original to newcomers. I love that for the tutorial mission, they kill three out of your four soldiers (they even show up in the memorial list). Gives you a good indication that you shouldn't get TOO attached to every specific soldier in your command, but you do want some grunts to get some kills, survive, and rank up.

Has anyone tried playing with one of the classic squaddies?

i did a quick look at the customize options, didn't see the Guile flattop, vowed to come back to it later. i DID download the "elite soldier pack" tho

Im playing on normal mode and am kinda past the tutorial. I havent lost a squad member since the first couple missions. then again Ive only 'aced' about 3-4 missions in a row so maybe my dudes are due to get jacked up.

is this gonna be best on computer?

probably but the xbox interface works really well. i'm really impressed by how well they fit what feels like a complete 90s-style strategy game into an xbox control scheme. i've heard the console civ (revolutions?) did something similar.

i know it's cheesy but a lot of the dumbass stuff like the music playing while i select and kit out my dudes is awesome, or the skyranger landing cinematic.

also, take squadsight for your snipers. holy shit. i've got lt. kozlova jacking aliens up from across the fucking map.

I gave up when it became apparent how ginormous the download for the demo was and I had to stop and think "do I really need an X-Com addiction back in my life"? But y'all are seriously tempting me.

i have the game on ps3 and i played the demo on pc. it is actually really well designed for console play. i don't think you can go wrong with either.

I've heard that the mouse is actually kinda finicky and you make idiotic, i-was-actually-clicking-there mistakes frequently enough that the controller sdoesn't look like a terrible option.

As a perfect example of just how soft I've gotten, I didn't realize the game has no autosaving, and had to redo the tutorial hour or so again. Bah.

I do very much like so far how they're using the skill trees to fulfill specializations

hold on, i thought the pc version autosaved like every other turn

you can turn autosave on

haha the autosave thing got me too. the third tutorial mission, the VIP escort, 3/4 of my squad goes down in a hail of plasma fire and panic. my remaning dude pushed on, grabbed the VIP and slowly and laboriously killed all the aliens on her own.

after that i turned autosave on, it makes the occasional ridiculous panic spirals way less frustrating.

The guys on the Giant Bombcast went on at length about how brutal and difficult the game is.

lol. kids today!

i'm debating with myself if i want to turn the autosave on, or force myself to reload the entire mission if i fail badly enough

i'm playing without autosave, just saving at the start of the mission. i am disappointed w/ myself every time i reload, it feels cheaty. i wish could make myself play the hardcore mode but i get too attached to my dudes to let them die just because i am dumb.

heh, i have the exact same feelings Roberto

i rationalize my reloading as a learning tool. reloading is time-consuming enough that i feel it an adequate negative reinforcement for feckless or irresponsible behavior in-game. totally restarting the mission (or just letting my dudes die!) would be overkill, leading to frustration, unhappiness, heart disease and death.

hardcore mode in any game is for last playthru, not first
when i figured this out i enjoyed gaming much more
i also became a giant floppy vagina, but hey
trade offs

yeah, when i get to the point where i am really comfortable i could see myself just starting again on hardcore. there are usually decisions i wish i had made better halfway thru a game like this anyhow.

it is an absolutely joy

having a hard time deciding if i want to buy this or dishonored

man dishonored sounds pretty fun but every time i buy a game b/c people are talking about thief and deus ex and system shock i get burned (a la fuckin bioshock or deus ex: human revolution).

x-com however has research trees, the greatest invention in the history of video games.

hahahah, SOLD

Yeah, I'd be quite happy with an Xcom tycoon sim. Setting up research departments, allocating force interception budgets, etc

C+P quote right there by adam

I played the demo for this last night. The gameplay is just like Valkyria Chronicles! Sold.

had my first almost-wipe out last night, half the team dead - and thus i chickened out and reloaded. around when you get to month 3, the missions get much more stacked and finances start to get tight

This game is dope. I've barely played any kind of tactical turned based game like this but I'm totally into it.

i just did the first alien base assault. 22 aliens killed, 2 of my guys wounded, none killed. and now i finally have some cash to spend! satellites! sadly i already lost russia :(

cosign about this game, it rocks. Also got burnt after assuming it had autosave :( learned my lesson now. About 5 hrs into the game. The turn-based combat makes it leisurely, but the Zimmer-esque music and snazzy graphics make it seem really propulsive. Great game for weed toilet breaks.

What happens if I turn down a rescue mission cos it looks like all my dudes are gonna be killed? Does the nation in question get pissy and withdraw funding or is it more subtle than that?

pretty much, their terror level goes up, if it's in the red at the end of the month, they withdraw from the project

tried a base assault and got completely mercilessly slaughtered; making sure to come in with full armor and better guns next time

Really digging this - I've played a game to my complete destruction, so I've started again to use what I've learned. Difficulty curve is pretty steep, but not in a bad way.

I haven't restarted yet. I'm trying to switch up my tactics so the grunts are on the front line and my more seasoned people are further back. I've already lost a few of my more veteran soldiers, which makes you rethink your approach for sure.

rookies are always great fodder; cheaper than the mini-tanks, and the ones that survive get promoted

I'm definitely using more rookies in the future. Most of my A team just got killed by those double hardcore tanky aliens.

Started playing this yesterday and had grfeat fun until my computer froze and then would no longer turn on. OH GOOD BECAUSE I CAN DEFINITELY AFFORD TO FIX MY COMPUTER RIGHT NOW

This QT3 review is a tad overclever, but pretty good, in mostly hammering what's happened between 1994 and 2012 (so old)

http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2012/10/16/the-xcom-enemy-unknown-review-that-took-18-years-to-write/

while i'm link spamming why not the The PA Report's enthusiast take

http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/xcom-is-a-gamble-on-a-hardcore-genre-and-there-is-more-riding-on-its-succes

this is great!

Anyone who chooses to play multiplayer: I highly recommend adding a flying saucer to your squad. Total bargain.

haven't even thought about mp tbh - it's good?

It isn't robust or anything, but if you want to play a quick, evenly-matched game against another person it's pretty fun.

tech tree:

http://xcom.nexusmods.com/images/5534167-1350750176.jpg

apparently, pc mods are out for this already

nice, guess i'm close to the end (of this playthrough)

have they said anything about a mac version yet?!

Dammit, getting close enough to taze a dude is annoying

Giving some of my dudes the brush-haired classic squaddie 'do with facial hair amuses me as it looks like I'm going into battle with Questlove as my sniper

Yeah, I get pissed off when your advisers complain about you killing an alien rather than stunning it - would be nice to be able to draft them, give them a stunner and let them try.

I enjoy the base mgmt and researchy bits. Then again, I love Kairosoft games.

I'd pay money for just an "Xcom Tycoon" game, come to think of it.

Also, I just noticed that each research item/project has a code name. Awesome.

It's amazing, the technology tree is THE single most tempting aspect of this game I've seen yet. Maybe I'll hit this up over Christmas break or something.

the "countries decide not to fund you anymore" is some bullshit. we got fuckin' pulse rifles and the ability to take live captures, what the fuck you got?

a better explanation might have been "countries are too panicked to allocate funds anymore due to etc etc etc"

I mean, I get the gameplay reason why they did it, I just wish they woulda justified it better

HA! There's a Voynich Manuscripts ref in here!

The defunding from countries was always stupid in the original, seems like it could work with just a little more window-dressing, some SimCity style fake newspapers that suggest the country is gradually coming under the sway of head-in-the-sand isolationist parties insisting that the UFO crisis is being overstated, or asking why our President is sending good Russian blood and treasure off to fight a war that has barely impacted Asia yet, or whatever. Then a few turns later the newsfeed could tell you that the Russian President had lost his re-election bid, then a little after that the funding gets cut....something. But maybe this would be a drag on the game's pace. There could just be a news ticker running across the bottom of the screen, no dialogue boxes as such.

Exactly, and they already use newstickers to relay plot-relevant info after you've finished a mission

There's definitely more set up in the original game about this - i remember there was a lot of talk about alien infiltrators, government subversion, increased terror attacks/abductions etc. It was pretty cool because if you noticed a country was increasingly hostile, you could set up a patrol or base there and often see the increased UFO activity to match, sometimes finding an alien base as well. I don't know if the new game considers this stuff, more likely it's simply the terror meter.

Dammit, getting close enough to taze a dude is annoying

How the hell do you plan for this? I either give everyone a stunner and then everyone gets taken out because I don't have enough grenades, or only one guy has a stunner, inw which case they're invariably the other side of the battlefield when an opportunity for stunning arises.

And in any case, if I try to get to close, I get mullered, especially since anything less than 60% hit-rate results in an automatic miss. No wonder everyone's withdrawing funding, these chancers can't shoot an alien that's standing 4ft in front of them.

To be fair, they're pretty good at shooting aliens through cars/concrete blocks/comrade's heads.

you can upgrade the arc thrower in the foundry i guess, but i haven't done it myself to be able to say what that actually means. i have been pretty lucky so far, although getting some of the big guys to just between 1 and 3 health is frustrating to say the least.

i put the arc thrower on an assault and have my other dudes suppress, taking pistol shots to get the alien's health down, then run up on him and stun. it's a delicate operation but like w/ everything else in this game it's all about patience.

Arc thrower upgrade increases chance to stun and allows stuns below 6HP instead of 3HP, so it helps a little. Adam's advice is sound. My strategy is to have at least one or two soldiers ready to kill in case the stun fails, and have your stunner have good enough armor/health to survive a point blank shot if you have to wait until next turn. supression is good too.

i do miss the the chaos of stun bomb launchers knocking out your own men in a cramped UFO that was in the original though lol

you think this is annoying, wait until you get to the psi units... ;)

Suppression is an awesome trait.
I can see playing this game for months.

Also I want to mention that I really like the design choice they made here - stunning aliens has a high risk, but the reward is high as well - you get research credits from the interrogation in addition to their weapons. Guns in this game can't be destroyed, are rarely sellable, and expensive enough that even acquiring a single Plasma Rifle is a major boon.

I think I need to start my playthrough over. I suck.

I wish they had spent 5 minutes to make more npc models. Vid of streets under attack show the same three people running and screaming, only cloned 50x

They could have at least altered the hair color

the longer i play, the fewer qualms i have about reloading save games... sometimes it just gets too brutal!

yeah i am doing multiple saves per mission by this point. the latest terror mission i am on is an absolute slaughter.

Urgh. Crash at the end of the 1st tutorial mission. Which I already played in the demo. Computer games I hate you.

http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/xcom-enemy-unknown/1226472p1.html

DLC leakage. China.

This is one of the reasons I like pc gaming; you can go in and recover cut content, like the Second Wave mode:

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/10/17/xcom-mod-second-wave/

played the demo and did not like. id dig it on pc i think, but console path mapping with a gamepad is always awful imo

It's a little bit frustrating at times but I can't say I've accidentally wound up in the wrong place more than once or twice.

i may need to play this on easy! it gets REAL FRUSTRATING but is terribly fun

yeah I am kinda stuck right now, despite playing on Normal.

You can change the difficulty of the demo, tho, but you have to change a digit in the .ini file

i think you can change the difficulty in the pause menu

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=449402621768837

German gamer nerds decide to shoot a live-action bit

heh,requires no translation

i'm guessing the first dude forgot to hit run n gun

i am really sad there is not a blow-by-blow cankles playthrough of this game happening

ha nice video

The guy playing the Thin Man looks like Ralf Huetter.

nerd power!
http://sinepost.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/probability-in-games-xcom/

Yeah, that probability article is insane.

newsbit:

http://www.destructoid.com/borderlands-2-ships-5m-copies-xcom-deemed-a-success-237760.phtml

Of course, hearing specifics on a per-game basis would be nice. For Borderlands 2, "one of the most successful releases in 2K's history," there have been over 5 million units shipped to date. Firaxis Games' XCOM: Enemy Unknown wasn't given exact numbers, but Take-Two called it a "critical and commercial success." That makes me very happy indeed.

Ok, fine, now start working on the lunar & martian expansion campaigns

I wonder if they would have terror from the deep be dlc and not a sequel.. since its original release was basically a re-skin with some small tweaks here and there.

http://sinepost.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/xcom-tftd.png?w=540&h=338

damn this game was ugly

hahaha that screengrab actually makes me feel like playing it though!

firaxis is the only company still doing old-school expansion packs. i would buy one for this game in a second.

did not know that the dude behind the original went out to make a GBA version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVQg681_k9Q

http://playwhatyoulikesrpgreviews.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/rebelstar-tactical-command-2005-analysis/

http://playwhatyoulikesrpgreviews.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/rebelstar_tactical_command_gez_fry_character_jorel_ruby_art.jpg

i am really sad there is not a blow-by-blow cankles playthrough of this game happening

― set the controls for the heart of the congos (thomp), Saturday, October 27, 2012 2:21 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark

im waiting until its on sale. im more interested in Xenonauts at this point

to be fair i also am waiting until it is on sale

that gba game is pretty annoying, by the way. the battles are all preset and there's no management, it feels like a very extended tutorial. i think there's some levelling up but it seems to make absolutely no difference. worth paying £2 for i guess.

Getting OWNED on classic level

playing the OG from scratch today, getting pwnd repeatedly

ah, that was a good one

went to lagos for a terror mission, start the mission and there are two floaters right in front of me at the bottom of the ramp

in a split second they took out four of my dudes in front, all of whom were wearing armor

then one dude in the back row goes berserk, fires wildly three times and takes out the other three squaddies in the skyranger

>:-0

7 dudes dead and i haven't even stepped foot out of the fucking skyranger. on beginner.

The reboot is fine, but having just finished a second playthrough (Classic difficulty, this time with a self-imposed requirement for a 6 female all-psy operative team for the final battle, just for challenge/kicks), I can say that the new game offers pretty much zero replay value, once its tricks are learned. The OG has serious issues, but larger, less repetitive maps, the terror of nighttime, and alien assaults on your own base make it much more of a nail-biter.

Semi-spoiler question: Is the game's final battle after the Gollop Chamber? I've been hesitating on pulling the trigger since they give you that "no point of return" warning.

Also I am still afraid of Classic difficulty, considering how many battles I've restarted on Normal

Spoiler: yes.

Classic is no big deal once you learn 1) Never end a move out of cover (exception: snipers well outside of the fray), 2) only expand your squad's area of visibility on the first move of each turn: the trick to winning the battles is always getting the first shots off), 3) use the map borders to protect flanks and rear, 4) reload and adjust overwatch positions after firefight 5) Support troops in the lead (with sprint, they can run further back if neccessary, they can heal themselves, and the sprint+extra slot is ideal for arc zapping) 6) Heavy aim sucks, but AOE rockets still useful if opportunity arises, 7) Snipers are weakest squadies, but with squad-sight & double tap, the strongest colonels, 8) Assault with run-n-gun is a useful last move reserve to save your ass after a mistake. My usual squad is 2 support, 2 snipers, 1 heavy, 1 assault. Strategically prioritize 1) satellite coverage, 2) armor, 3) squad size, 4) weapons, 5) game progress 6) advanced interceptor in that order. Save up live & autopsy subjects for after getting the Brazil + Argentina perk "We Have Ways", which permits instantaneous research. Be wary of research & foundry projects that consume elerium and weapons fragments that seem ancillary. Grab a plasma rifle by zapping a Muton as soon as possible - the whole laser weapon research tree can be bypassed.

good tips! i agree with pretty much everything you said. i was a little annoyed when i realized you can only have one satellite per country, feel like i put too much effort into that in the mid-late game. (also i really don't want to fight mutons with regular rifles, lol)

my squad is usually 2 support, 1 sniper, 1 heavy, 1 assault, 1 rookie for promoting/fodder. (Just realized now that maybe this game doesn't work the same as the original, where you needed more rookies so other guys could get higher promotions)

thinking about going earlier into the SHIV trees next go-round just to see how good they can be, but like the original it just seems way cheaper to burn through rookies as fodder. the interceptor/ship stuff is expensive and doesn't feel worth the effort, though you have to do it to progress the game.

classic difficulty infuriates the shit out of me when my squad members cant hit a target 5 feet away but the aliens are making critical plasma pistol shots from the oppposite edge of the map

At the end of the game my snipers had 4 times the kills of my other troops. With squad-sight on the snipers, you can send a support (for distance) or assault (for immunity to 1st reaction shot) out to spot (without firing), take some shot(s) with each sniper, then pull the the spotter back to cover and out of the alien sight range. Rinse and repeat till the aliens are attrited enough to advance. If I didn't have to fight indoors I'd take a 4 sniper team...

yeah,i found Squad Sight is generally preferable to the Snap Shot/Opportunist combo

irlLOL@"At least they're not playing...COMPUTER GAMES!"

heh, just realized that voice actor played Dr. Pierre Chang on Lost

http://www.bitcreature.com/editorials/heavy-metal-xcom/

Gus Mustrapa names his squaddies after 80s Metallica, details their fates

Cliff could hear the monsters shuffling in the distance – calling to each other. He leaned out of cover and peered across the asphalt to the bloody remains of his bandmates. Kirk took a headshot and had tumbled backwards off his sniping perch. James was bleeding out nearby. How did shit get so fucked up so fast? Those missions in Canada and Mumbai were a breeze. The band felt tighter than it had in years. Kirk worked his magic from afar, picking off alien assholes with his sniper rifle while James and Lars kept watch, shooting anything that moved. It was all going so well until Sao Paulo and now… Fuck it. It’s all over.

that's one of those things I read and just wasn't sure how to react to

The Second Wave stuff that modders re-enabled is officially in as a free DLC update. Nice interview here, largely for the insight about consequence/permaloss being a resurging breakout feature in 2012:
http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/01/08/interview-xcom-jake-solomon-pc-gamer/

for consoles too?

xcom: eu is def a perfect game to just keep adding expansion units/maps/challenges/items/aliens/whatever to. firaxis/microprose so good at making games i want to keep playing indefinitely

i just traded 18 old ps3 games in for this and $32 in credit

i'm happy

This weird Steam deal for Bioshock Infinite will maybe get you XCOM for free?

http://kotaku.com/5986321/bioshock-infinites-pre+order-scheme-is-a-bold-step-in-consumer-manipulation

great now you tell me

is there a way to calm regions down that isnt randomly finding an abduction there or sending up a satellite? i'm not that far in and already everybody is freaking out

Pretty much. The decision sequence is a bit contrived but just remember every abduction successfully averted improves both that nation (by 2) and its continent (by 1), so you can keep juggling a lot of near panic nations for a while.
Picking which countries to abandon is a usual midgame dilemma, but the game can be won with only about half-standing: it just takes longer, with more losses.

i just feel like every time i save one country everyone else gets all mad

but that probably accurately simulates the desperation of a planet being invaded by aliens

if a country leaves, can you get them back?

Nope. XCOM! (jazz hands)

im scared

ios version coming this summer

!!!

that is wonderful news for iosers.

what a game.

reading "iosers" as "losers" = priceless

ya uh i realized that a minute later

Soy un iPhone4 I'm a ioser baby

So why don't you bill me?

Anyone tried the mac version?

my buddy just grabbed it

Instead of actually playing it I've just been watching those YouTube videos of Ironman Impossible mode by Beagle. Really entertaining

Revive for the iOS version, out today. Never did get it for the Mac, this may be the platform for me.

still waiting for the hungry-4-ass blow-by-blow on this new kid xcom

did you... have you say that

yes?

Mac version?!?!

The iOS version is reportedly identical in gameplay, they just down rezzed textures & models to cut the memory requirements. Kinda wish I waited for it (as touch screen seems a more natural interface than mouse).

i bet it would be great on the ipad. iphone seems way too small tho.

got the same feeling

apparently there aren't as many maps too

from ipad to iphone or from pc to ios?

pc to ios

It doesn't have as many maps? The console version already doesn't have enough maps

you don't have enough maps

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lwobqbVQnw1qh1eddo1_500.gif

one thumb up, one thumb down for that one forks

wowww this is the best game ever ... but still really hard!

what sort of attrition rate do you guys think is acceptable? where do you put your base?

Here are some quick tips

http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/17/xcom-enemy-unknown-game-guide-strategic/

More tips:

http://www.giantbomb.com/xcom-enemy-unknown/3030-37152/forums/finished-the-game-on-classic-ironman-heres-some-ti-564714/

just build those satellite uplinks dude and build em soon

and dont be afraid to start over

yeah, xcom has always been the ultimate screw-up-and-start-over-with-more-knowledge game

ya and it's totally ok cuz you get different levels

omg chrysalids ate my face

now on steam for $40. should i just get it now or wait a little bit for the inevitable sale???

(nb i already own it on the 360 but i never get to play it bc too much competition for the tv)

http://isthereanydeal.com/#/page:game/price?plain=xcomenemyunknown

now that's it's steamplay you can get it whenever the PC version goes on sale

ok i lost russia and australia but i've got satellites over everyone else. can i still win?

wait that was a dumb question, i just figured out how satellites work - can't stack satellites, right?

My usual squad is 2 support, 2 snipers, 1 heavy, 1 assault

this is working all right for me

everyone's working with titan armor and plasma or alloy weapons too

can i just grind away for awhile and ignore the confounding light / alien base missions until i'm rich?

normally I go with 2 assault, but yeah. My view is that you should accept every mission available to you.

well i beat the game on normal difficulty. south america turned out to be a really killer base option - quickly shortcutting research trees by instantly interrogating / dissecting aliens is cool. once i had titan armor and plasma weapons the game was kind of a breeze. in fact i think the game went a bit too fast.

i just started a new game on classic and got slaughtered on the first mission. have a feeling normal -> classic is a pretty huge step up in difficulty. or maybe i just forgot how shitty the game is at first before you have decent skills / armor / weapons.

FYI Mordy, I just grabbed the PC/Mac Steam version for $13 off a third-party online retailer - expect a similar discount once Steam kicks off its Summer Sale later this week or next

classic difficulty infuriates the shit out of me when my squad members cant hit a target 5 feet away but the aliens are making critical plasma pistol shots from the oppposite edge of the map

― johnathan lee riche$ (mayor jingleberries), Monday, November 5, 2012 10:41 AM (8 months ago)

yes

this is so much better + more fun on my mac than 360

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7442/9288429253_29fb0df1c3.jpg

where did you get that sweet hat and shades. is that dlc?

lol

proud brit

btw you were the killer psi operative that won the game

So, who else thought that Pacific Rim was as close to an XCOM film as we're going to get?

seeing it on Saturday. you're getting my hopes up!

So, who else thought that Pacific Rim was as close to an XCOM film as we're going to get?

Other than the fact that there isn't any squad stuff in the movie at all, sure.

Well, yeah. The style and scale of the battles are different, but...

I would love to play x-com on a jaeger scale. Getting cover behind skyscrapers and shit.

wasn't there a battletech game like that?

Mechwarrior? Virtual On?

Front Mission is kinda like that

Actually, a lot like that. It is basically XCOM with mechs

But those are action games and not strategy games, right?

only the last front mission made by some other weird company is action. the rest are turn based strategy. the 3rd and 4th are weird but the 1st is divine

word

i always thought about replaying the newer version on DS with the extra content

do it.

Front Mission 3 is where I signed on. The game had its own Internet!

xcom is 75% off today on steam fwiw

no excuses, ya'll got 48 hours

Anybody know what the DLC situ is? They put out like one story mission(in China?) and some cosmetic bits, but that's about it. Does anybody know if they're doing anything else? Hell, just some more tilesets would be nice

i haven't yet played the story DLC, but at $3.00 you might as well just get both DLCs and enjoy the hats and haircuts, the REAL value of the DLC

they've been annoyingly vague about upcoming DLC. my guess - they're gonna do a Civilization-style big paid expansion/DLC instead of bits and bobs, which i'd be fine with

xcom is so good

is all the DLC included in the osx version? i got only two of the council missions when i played through on normal difficulty (confounding light and friends in low places but no slingshot or gangplank)

i think all of the elite soldier options are there though

they were in the non-Steamplay "Elite" Mac version- i don't know if that's the case with the current crossplatform version on Steam

you mean the apple store version, right?

is there a particular way to unlock slingshot and gangplank?

Am I the only person here who plays the multiplayer? I love it.

i haven't tried it yet. working on beating the main campaign first.

sanpaku's hints upthread pretty much sum it up

is there dlc for ps3

i played this up til the council mission and it became kind of obvious the game was mucking dice rolls so i could get to the end of the tutorial, which made me feel somehow worse

haha the autosave thing got me too. the third tutorial mission, the VIP escort, 3/4 of my squad goes down in a hail of plasma fire and panic. my remaning dude pushed on, grabbed the VIP and slowly and laboriously killed all the aliens on her own.

after that i turned autosave on, it makes the occasional ridiculous panic spirals way less frustrating.

― adam, Friday, 12 October 2012 13:06 (9 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lulz

how do you keep thin men from poisoning your dudes w/ acid spit?

Enough range

that's part of what makes those escort/rescue missions so aggravating, when they just jump into the map behind or ahead of you

yeah that is arcadey in a weird way and i can't decide what i think of it

YESS i have managed to kill off all my dudes and doomed earth to alien exploitation

kind of hard to tell where the tutorial ended, there

disheartening that no one is still playing this

so q., does the geoscape backend work like in the original? -- i mean, is the game genuinely going to the bother of generating ships + missions + flight patterns and then calculating the odds of my satellites noticing them? because it feels more like it's just rolling on a random encounter table tbh

honestly don't have the time!

i rebought on Mac; will get back to it someday

geoscape is way simplified compared to the original, there's no ship pursuit tactics, just a pop up screen at random intervals. still, like a lot of things in the game it's good enough

so do you reckon no backend, then?

don't know for sure but i doubt it - the variables are so few (month, continent, city, ship type, mission type) they really don't need a full-on sim

i'm not really finding the geoscape stuff to be that different from the OG tbh

are you kidding man, remember all those hidden bases you had to find, sending out patrols for discovery and intercept, and a million ships over the earth at once and having two or three Skyranger crews to cover the load, it was micromanagement hell

are you playing on classic?

oh.. nope

i was thinking 'man i am going to run this into the ground and start again in classic ironman and ace it' and yup i just died on the first mission

declassified blows. why anyone would emulate mass effect combat play is beyond me.

that's a shame, but expected given how messed up the development has been for that. it was supposed to come out before Enemy Unknown!

http://games.on.net/2013/08/xcom-enemy-within-will-expand-enemy-unknown-and-add-replayability-mechtoids-and-more-we-speak-to-firaxis/

First actual confirmation on Enemy Within that I've seen. Surprised it won't be a DLC add-on for console though, as it will be for PC.

ah i see, embargo was lifted today

mass effect combat works on paper, i can see why they might want to try and fix it, plus i mean it sells i guess

enemy within sounds potentially a mess.

“In order to construct the MECs and MEC troopers, you’ll need a resource called Meld that we’ve introduced on all the maps. Meld is stored in self-destructing canisters, so if you want it, you’ll have to be a bit aggressive. The risk can be well worth the reward.”

hm

is xcom rubberbanded at all? i keep losing all but one of my entire force and then storming something with a bunch of rookies in a way that seems ... odd

I totally prefer "Elerium".
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/28/world/europe/new-chemical-element/index.html?hpt=hp_c5

ios is 50% off right now.

whats this like on console vs mac? usually dont like keyboard/mouse gaming but seems like it would be the better option here

it's sick on mac

yeah? might grab it on steam then

XCOM 2 announced as PC-exclusive for the fall. kind of surprised!
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/06/01/xcom-2-announced-ign-first

anyone who likes XCOM should def try Invisible Inc

A mobile base: a flying aircraft carrier called the Avenger

Subtle, innit?

That was in the original game!

oh wait, this thing?

http://ufopaedia.org/images/4/4e/UP001.gif

I always thought of this as just a lander or pursuit craft, a bigger version of the skyranger, not a flying aircraft carrier.

yeah, it was, though tbf it was the really souped-up version that let you hold way more people and tanks than the old crappy Skyranger

powered by Elerium-113 (tm)

http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/06/04/xcom-2s-procedurally-generated-maps-ign-first

sounds cool

xcom 2 delayed to February 5

NOOOOOOOoooooooo

the good news it's almost february 5th and these reviews look pretty dope

yyyyyyyeeEEEEESSSSSSSSS

I have a pretty weak ass old imac so I assume I cant play u_u

pretty much dragged out fallout 4 for 2 1/2 months for this ^_^

I have a pretty weak ass old imac so I assume I cant play u_u

― carthago delenda est (mayor jingleberries), Tuesday, February 2, 2016 10:58 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah hoping for a demo just so i can confirm it works on a laptop that's, like, par at best for 1, before i throw money at them

Minimum specs aren't that bad. 2.4gz, 4g ram, Nvidia 650 or better. It'd be the video card that'd be the barrier.

ha, that's exactly what i have, but a crappier video card, i think. not the game's fault, considering my iMac is eight (godforsaken!) years old now

wow i can't believe you kept your mac alive for eight years

easy when you're cheap, foolish and stubborn

NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M?!?

lots of performance issues according to steam forum

i'm just going to pretend it doesn't work, i don't really want to spend that much anyway

It's a 2K game, so it'll heavily discounted soon enough. I never even got around to Enemy Within, anyway...

Fuck it, let's do this.

Dealzon has links to like ~25% off, with a slightly better discount for UK/EU sites.

http://www.dealzon.com/deals/cheap-xcom-2#xcom-2

Is there an easy way to share squaddie builds yet? Are we all on the ILX steam group?

Interesting set-up so far. Graphics are hitching during the cinematics, but okay during fights. Little delay in the scripting after alien activity before they shift it back to your turn. If this thing has gamepad controls, they're pretty limited so far.

Cover factors include not just distance and half/full blocking, but elevation too.

this is just about running at min settings on my 13in mid-2014 Macbook Pro. I get warnings about being sub-minimum spec (I think the graphics card is the weak link), but it lets you click continue. Long load times and it stalls when campbell tries to tell you things during missions, but first couple of maps have been comfortably playable.

bradford not campbell i mean

There must be optimization problems in this build or something. It runs like ass on my 3.3gz i5, 24gb ram, Radeon R9/2gb. All hinky even at low settings and resolution.

man i hope this doesn't hurt them. seems a massive oversight, though: i don't think xcom players, on average, are really the gotta-have-the-newest-graphics type

I was thinking "ok, I'm getting by, it's basically working, and I'm happy enough to be getting MORE XCOM on my just-under-the-bar laptop", but once I saw just how many problems there are, on machines that are >>>recommended spec… I think maybe do not touch this till it is fixed.

going to play it now though, it's such fun

Bradford should be played by Nick Kroll with a little too much eye-liner

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CSlk8ITU8AAKk0g.jpg:large

Also, for those who want a little preview gameplay footage:

https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video/CaerqUdUUAAa1yW.mp4

I turned off action cam, vsync, dropped down shadow and AA effect, then forced them on with the graphics card app. Better.

Game still hard as shit. Thinking about dropping this down to easy for the 1st playthru.

I had a quick try at it and lost on the first (non-tutorial) mission.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Xcom/comments/44b7pf/xcom_2_tips_megathread/

Wow, these are good. Flashbang a sectoid to kill its psionic controls, aggro a patrol squad before you get too far in and wind up getting caught between squads afore & behind you, etc.

http://www.gamepur.com/guide/21988-xcom-2-pc-error-fix-fps-loss-save-game-location-cant-detect-4k-resolution.html

Ooo, how to speed up animations!

time management of base operations stress >>> combat stress

not sure there's a game I cuss out more while playing. missing multiple 80%+ shots unleashes my nerd rage.

during my playthrough of the 2012 x-com, i got so fed up with missing high percentage shots that i briefly maintained a spreadsheet where i recorded the predicted percentages vs the actual outcomes. it balanced out in the end. but yes, nerd raaaaaage

how does the new one compare to 2012 x-com?

i'm only a few hours in but its mostly the same aside from your base being busier/more complex. (there are likely more new aliens and tech I haven't got to.) my biggest complaint is that your base advisers won't stfu. No matter where you click they have some stupid comment or story.

if you were into the 2012 game, you'll easily like it.

I'm still only a few hours in, but, yeah, it's like the same but more so - more options, more stuff to do, more to research - biggest change to the feel is that most missions have some kind of timer, so slow-slow-slow overwatch play doesn't work.

You can click off the in-house radio chatter, I think. The option of "ambient dialogue" or sumthing in the options, isn't it.

Added the mod for facepaint last night, and sending out all my squaddies in Pris-style warpaint is strangely satisfying.

Game is MUCH harder this time round, it should be emphasized. I'm just now getting non-shite gear.

feel like they overdo the punishment of getting squad members injured. trying to get your best crew set up for a difficult mission is almost impossible b/c of that.

Has anybody tried the multiplayer yet?

This game is really hard. I was chugging along doing great, beautiful squad, nice gear, flawless victory on holding off an attempted invasion of the base. Then all of a sudden while everybody's celebrating I find I haven't done enough outreach and I have three fires to put out and absolutely there's no way I'll have enough healthy guys to answer the second or third one. I just tried and failed through seven reloads to keep my best sharpshooter, Glenn Danzig, from getting merked by that muton on what should have been a pretty easy mission. Aka, I'm fucking done! Considering eating about 6-7 hours of progress and going back to an early save. I <3 u xcom

btw the specialist and ranger classes are the greatest in this game. The ranger's free overwatch bladestorm perk, how awesome is that. Also the flash grenade is the most useful flash grenade in video game history

Confirming that ranger and specialist are OP. Sharpshooters have been pretty underwhelming.

Specialist on the support tree is a little OP, I agree. It kind of blows the whole medikit economy which contributed to so much fun tension in the last game. (Specialist on the offence/hacker tree is kind of boring so far.)

imo saying ranger is OP is being kind of hard on yourself given how tough this game is. It's a glass cannon. Given that the sharpshooter can't be used in the usual way on the timed boards and the grenadier is actually more of a support class than a tank I think the classes are pretty balanced.

something i noticed today is that my evening spent playing xcom 2 war of the chosen has really made me want to time-manage my own life way more effectively

https://www.polygon.com/2020/4/14/21219644/xcom-chimera-squad-release-date-price-pc

firaxis announced a new xcom game today; it comes out in less than two weeks and it's half price on steam right now and for the first week of launch. HM.

i mean, is this a total dog they're trying to offload, or did an internal team do something experimental and they realised they could monetize it, or what ...

someone take the plunge and tell us how it is!
it's a 2K game so i will just wait until it's bundled. i never got around to playing XCOM 2 anyway

i have some buds who will for sure jump in day 1, i'll report back

-- the opening cutscene has a weird energy--it's still image flash animation. no budget. mouths don't move when people talk.
-- but the game itself is ... a modern xcom game.
-- runs just about on my non-gaming laptop on the lower settings but i should probably get my gaming pc out.
-- the writing is less bad than the other modern xcom games.
-- the base stuff ... kind of less bad also?
-- changing to interlaced turns doesn't bother me because it seems very familiar from just playing octopath traveler.
-- even on hard nothing difficult in the first two missions, though i guess one of those was a tutorial.
-- i wonder if the ending is going to set up a modern xcom version of apocalypse.

isn't there some sort of deal with this new one where there's a set, limited selection of characters you can pick from, rather than endlessly regenerating/training new soldiers like the last few? maybe i made that up

no that’s the deal

and if anyone bleeds out you have to start the mission over, which saps the tension rather a lot.

also missions are series of discrete rooms. it’s almost arcade-y. into the breach just got a big update, i think after i get through chimera squad i will do another run at that. maybe invisible inc also.

this game has over 1300 discussion topics on its steam board

my friend i mentioned above is a fan fwiw. i am prob gonna get it

don't play it on ironman. it generated a mission it was legit impossible for me to win* which meant i was just in an eternal 'restart mission?' loop

* if enemies ended the turn on a particular set of squares the mission was failed, but i didn't have the item or character that would let me start the mission near it, my characters all started more than a turn away from being in LOS of the fail condition