The X-COM Topic

tomatobob

2014-02-14 08:34:35 pm

One shall stand, one shall ball.

No Red Fog, start again! :v

Good luck, Commander.

Prime Hunter

Edit history:

Prime Hunter: 2014-02-14 09:15:35 pm

Prime Hunter: 2014-02-14 09:15:07 pm

2014-02-14 09:14:53 pm

Main reason I don't use Red Fog after trying it out that one time is because it doesn't effect the alien stats too like in UFO. I've got enough handicaps as it is. The one I'm most worried about, actually, is Itchy Trigger Tentacle since I've never used it before. I'm pretty sure it works with the non-cover aliens only.

So if my calculations are correct I believe that means Floaters, Heavy Floaters, Seekers, Drones, Cyberdiscs, Mechtoids, and Sectopods can get a free shot on me when I spot them if they wish... Yikes! Actually, I'm not 100% sure on the two Floater variants but I've seen them go into overwatch sometimes when spotted and I think that's the ability that would trigger ITT.

Prime Hunter

2014-02-14 10:55:00 pm

I'm doing surprisingly well for the early part of Impossible. Meaning I lost 4 nations in the first month... Hooray for progress!

That said, I just had a squad wipe on the first terror mission in Paris thanks to the Chryssalids. Here's where Save Scum comes in, since it'll reset the RNG seed when I reload my save at the start of the battle.

tomatobob

2014-02-14 11:01:28 pm

One shall stand, one shall ball.

Floaters can make use of cover so if I understand ITT correctly it won't activate.

And yeah with Impossible I'm guessing you just have to pick 3-4 countries to just write off entirel at the start. Panic is nuts.

tomatobob

2014-02-15 06:58:57 pm

One shall stand, one shall ball.

Hahathe Alien Base is pretty easy if you raid it in May! :v

Prime Hunter

2014-02-15 09:05:56 pm

Just lost the Impossible run after April since I lost 4 countries again. I keep forgetting how much panic a country gets if you don't choose it in an abduction and it's costing me big time.

Had to reload quite a few times to get past that terror mission since it was cruel enough to give me this map as the first one. Chryssalids had a field day with those poor civilians since I couldn't get up there fast enough on most attempts.

tomatobob

2014-02-15 10:13:28 pm

One shall stand, one shall ball.

Huh, I always considered that one of my better maps when it came to Terror Missions, generally I don't even leave the starting area. Work my way up to the green pick up, plant my Sniper on the flatbed to the left of the LZ and eventually pushing to the fallen overpass and up to the taxi on that overpass if I need to. It's not great for getting the panic reduction from saving most of the civilians but aiming for that on Impossible is sort of suicidal. :v

But yeah Abduction panic is brutal, 3 points on Impossible. I think they only way to deal with it is to launch sats only to cover continents and clearing the Base before those last few countries bail. Think it's best to just call Europe or Asia as losses, because four sats is a lot, and focusing on North America (ignoring Mexico if needed/possible) and Africa just to get rid of Abduction Missions as fast as possible and secure solid income. But man are those first few months on Impossible aggravating.

Prime Hunter

Edit history:

Prime Hunter: 2014-02-15 10:26:42 pm

2014-02-15 10:26:30 pm

I'm pretty sure I was dead before I even got to that terror site to be perfectly honest. Had barely gotten to lasers but didn't have the engineers to make rifles, no OTS so I could only take a 4 man squad, and panic was bad enough where I needed to do the best I could to save civilians to try and lower panic across Europe. Boxed myself into a corner on the strategic layer very fast.

I'm curious: Where did you start on your Impossible run, anyway? I ended up going with Asia this time around due to all of the extra Foundry projects they added into EW, but money's always tight when I try Impossible so Africa might be a good choice. I feel like in EW that North America is the worst of the five. South America is much better now that there's more incentive to do autopsies thanks to Gene Mods and one of the MEC skills that adds 2 damage to aliens you've studied.

tomatobob

2014-02-15 10:46:46 pm

One shall stand, one shall ball.

IIRC I started in Africa, took the Engineers on the first Abduction and, put a satellite over the US at the end of the month. Think I also lost Mexico at the end of that first month because of my Abduction Mission choice which in turn made it esaier to secure North America from further panic.

I think for funding purposes that's the best way to go, but I don't know how EW's changes effect that. North America is valid too though since you will get more money to start with, which might help you get satellite coverage over Africa soon enough that the income ends up about equivalent with the added bonus of having some more money to move around in month 1.

Prime Hunter

2014-02-16 06:59:09 pm

...And I'm remembering why I don't play Impossible that much. Farthest I've gotten before abandoning a run to start over since that earlier one is the first abduction mission. So many Sectoid shenanigans it's not funny.

tomatobob

2014-02-16 08:12:53 pm

One shall stand, one shall ball.

*mind meld*

*bullshit crit*

*overwatch*

Prime Hunter

2014-02-16 10:03:06 pm

I've actually seen a few of them hunker down at times too, which is something I don't remember seeing that often until the expansion came out.

tomatobob

2014-02-16 10:18:26 pm

One shall stand, one shall ball.

I actually saw one do that when I solo'd that first UFO in this Classic run. So I guess it's just a thing they don't do very often.

tomatobob

2014-02-16 10:18:57 pm

One shall stand, one shall ball.

Good thing too cause that would probably be annoying as hell.

Prime Hunter

2014-02-17 05:18:03 am

I shudder at the thought of Elites doing that. Hard enough to kill as it is.

Prime Hunter

Edit history:

Prime Hunter: 2014-02-17 05:25:56 am

Prime Hunter: 2014-02-17 05:25:53 am

Prime Hunter: 2014-02-17 05:25:43 am

Prime Hunter: 2014-02-17 05:24:40 am

2014-02-17 05:22:38 am

Surprisingly I've finally got a pretty solid Impossible run going this time around. Just got to May and have lasers and the necessary engineers to build them, a few solid officers (including a Major Assault) and only 4 nations down. Panic is a little high overall but still manageable if I can get some more satellites going before long. Of course Exalt are going to show up in a few weeks so that's going to throw everything off balance. From what I understand if they choose to up panic in a nation when they attack it skyrockets by 3 points on Impossible.

Oh, and I'm still in love with Training Roulette. That Assault I just mentioned is immune to crits and I believe if I play her turn correctly I can get off 4 shots thanks to a combination of Close and Personal, Rapid Fire, and Bullet Swarm. Somebody get her an Alloy Cannon, stat!

Prime Hunter

2014-02-17 05:25:59 am

Hmm... if I somehow manage to get HEAT Ammo as one of my Colonel abilities, is it possible to solo a Sectopod with that setup? Twisted Evil

tomatobob

2014-02-17 05:55:01 am

One shall stand, one shall ball.

Close and Personal is just a straight up free shot on a close target in EW, right? Then yeah HEAT Ammo, C&P, followed by Rapid fire fro man Alloy Cannon would probably leave a Sectopod real dead. Not sure if Bullet Swarm would be needed since Alloy Cannon Rapid Fire was seriously ruining their shit on my Impossible run, but in EW they have a damage resistance perk on them don't they?

Point is Alloy Cannons are great and so is Rapid Fire and Assaults are just the best. wub

Prime Hunter

2014-02-17 01:25:37 pm

She's also running at about 97 Aim right now too, which is awesome. Had a Scope on her earlier and she was sniping Thin Men from the rooftops with a shotgun during one council mission I went on. Never expected that to work.

But yeah, C&P is the free shot one. I probably could have gone with Executioner instead of Bullet Swarm but I like the idea of unleashing a ton of shots at once due to the extra aliens on Impossible. Might make the difference if there are a bunch of Chryssalids descending on her position, for example. I can be extra evil and give her some more gene mods that either add 5 to aim and crit from height or 10 aim after a missed shot too. She's currently got one that heals her 2 HP a turn up to her base health which combines great with the crit immunity.

MECs may be flashy and awesome, but don't underestimate the combinations you can get from Training Roulette and gene mods.

tomatobob

2014-02-21 08:07:13 am

One shall stand, one shall ball.

Wish I could get psionics on soldiers that have actually good Will. I mean I know Will only really matters for Mind Control but still! It'd just be nice to be able to MC something that might actually be worth MC-ing once in a while just for fun.

Also had a landed Supply Barge mission that gave me Impossible flashbacks. Wave after wave of Heavy Floaters charging me before I'd even gotten to the other side of the first room. Then Mutons. Then more Mutons. Then more Heavy Floaters because of course.

And naturally the first person to step out of that first room finds Mutons + Beserker and Heavy Mutons waiting right outside because Operation Clusterfuck was not yet in full effect.

During the ensuing standoff two Sectoids snuck up behind my Sniper and managed to accomplish absolutely nothing before getting Gunslinger'd because XCOM is just wonderful.

Prime Hunter

2014-02-21 04:17:54 pm

Haha, those poor little Sectoids were invited to the wrong party.

With that Will problem, there's always alternatives like giving your Psi units Mind Shields, have one of them use Psi Inspiration on the other, Combat Drugs from your Supports, etc. Find ways to temporarily boost the Will of your main MC guy and then have them use it. Pretty sure that's how I managed to get an Ethereal one time.

tomatobob

Edit history:

tomatobob: 2014-02-21 05:21:24 pm

2014-02-21 05:20:58 pm

One shall stand, one shall ball.

Yeah I know there are ways to boost Will for Psi attack purposes(and I pretty much never use Psi attacks anyway) but it would just be nice if the guys that were clearly the most capable would get the gift once in a while is all. Have an Assault with well over 100 Will and nothing. Guy with 80 gets it. Sad

Quote from Prime Hunter:

Haha, those poor little Sectoids were invited to the wrong party.

Guess some Chryssies called in sick. :v

The best part about it was the timing: I'd just spotted the Muton Elites and the final Muton+Berserker group and one of my guys ne the left side of the ship hears something behind him and I am just in NO MOOD for this shit right now. Just want a turn or two to regroup and not worry about some asshole Muton or Floater popping around the corner. When a Sectopod shows up with some Heavy Floaters while your in the middle of that big room where the only high cover is the freaking engines, you want a break, not yet more aliens.

So I move my Sniper over a bit to get better line of sight down into the cargo bay where the Elites were hiding and after one step "Got something over here!"

*One alien head*
*Two alien heads* fffffffFFFFFFFFFFF*cutscene*FUAHAHAHA oh XCOM, you do care. wub

Yeah I know there are ways to boost Will for Psi attack purposes(and I pretty much never use Psi attacks anyway) but it would just be nice if the guys that were clearly the most capable would get the gift once in a while is all. Have an Assault with well over 100 Will and nothing. Guy with 80 gets it. :sad:

[quote="Prime Hunter"]Haha, those poor little Sectoids were invited to the wrong party.[/quote]
Guess some Chryssies called in sick. :v

The best part about it was the timing: I'd just spotted the Muton Elites and the final Muton+Berserker group and one of my guys ne the left side of the ship hears something behind him and I am just in [i]NO MOOD[/i] for this shit right now. Just want a turn or two to regroup and not worry about some asshole Muton or Floater popping around the corner. When a Sectopod shows up with some Heavy Floaters while your in the middle of that big room where the only high cover is the freaking engines, you want a break, not yet more aliens.

So I move my Sniper over a bit to get better line of sight down into the cargo bay where the Elites were hiding and after one step "Got something over here!"

*One alien head* 
*Two alien heads* fffffffFFFFFFFFFFF*cutscene*FUAHAHAHA oh XCOM, you [i]do[/i] care. :wub:

Prime Hunter

2014-02-21 07:34:09 pm

I definitely know the feeling with having higher Will units passed over for Psionics. That combined with the SW option to make Psi even rarer is why I never go with that anymore. I think I had 2 Psi units the entire game and that was one where I'm pretty sure my final soldier count was well over 100. So stupid of me to get the ONE Psi unit I had killed just as I'm prepping for the Temple Ship and spend 6 months in-game to get another.

Prime Hunter

Edit history:

Prime Hunter: 2014-02-21 07:37:20 pm

2014-02-21 07:36:52 pm

Just had my first EXALT mission on this Impossible run. Having that Assault be the covert operative worked out pretty well for her. 3 shots with a laser pistol is surprisingly effective. Too bad she never got Gunslinger along the way. (Got to Colonel after that mission)

Also had an EXALT Heavy suicide himself by firing a rocket directly at his feet. Nearly killed two of my guys in the process since he was surrounded at the time, but I'd never seen them fire a rocket that close before.

Prime Hunter

Edit history:

Prime Hunter: 2014-02-22 10:55:30 pm

Prime Hunter: 2014-02-22 10:54:34 pm

Prime Hunter: 2014-02-22 10:51:51 pm

Prime Hunter: 2014-02-22 10:51:37 pm

Prime Hunter: 2014-02-22 10:51:24 pm

2014-02-22 10:51:07 pm

So yeah, THAT was fun...

Just had UFO flashbacks on my current terror mission. The game continues to remind me that people who underestimate the new Chryssalids do so at their own peril:

What you don't see is the 1st Cyberdisc of the game somewhere in the background, too. 3 to 4 Chryssalid packs and a Cyberdisc, all in close quarters with an exploding vehicle as our primary source of cover, AND on Impossible where pretty much every off-screen civilian death results in a Zombie? I think we're in trouble.