The X-COM Topic

2014-08-06 06:01:33 am

It's kind of like Jagged Alliance in that regard. Depending on what weapon you have you can get a bunch of options and increase your accuracy for more TU. Machine guns only get burst shots for example, where as shotguns get snap/normal I believe. The tank I built fires off what looks to be about 10 shots per attack and they all fan out in the general direction of the target area. Perfect auto shot madness right there. (For the record I don't think my sniper's "precision rifle" even has a burst mode, but if I wanted to I could simulate it by firing a few lower accuracy shots instead.)

But yeah these guys are capable of being far more accurate than their X-COM equivalents with the starting gear. Closer to EU numbers than UFO.

Prime Hunter

2014-08-06 02:50:03 pm

Mental note: Breaching a large scout is tougher than it looks. You open the door and have the majority of the UFO open to you, meaning you're completely exposed while the aliens are behind chairs and consoles. 3 aliens almost completely decimated my squad because of that. Thankfully my Lt. Sniper pulled through thanks to his high accuracy. Bleeding out and being too far away from the evac point when you're the last guy left is not a situation that leaves you with a lot of options. I'm going to be hurting once he finally goes down.

Speaking of which, while the aliens are perfectly capable of killing my guys in one shot, normally it's been taking me 2-3 even with the Sectoid equivalents. Pretty sure I don't have anything powerful enough besides rockets to do that kind of direct damage yet. Working on lasers though so that should help me out. (You don't get access to that research immediately either!)

Prime Hunter

2014-08-08 06:04:37 pm

Wow, good job Xenonauts. I think it just did something that surpasses even the original X-COM. It just left me feeling absolutely helpless to stop the invasion. In the third month. Against medium UFOs.

November was an absolute disaster. I had been doing pretty well at taking down any UFOs that came into my radar until now, but then I'm suddenly hit with waves upon waves of medium class UFOs that are almost impossible for a single interceptor to take even with some upgraded weaponry. Money's extremely tight from what I've seen so far and creating even a single laser weapon takes a toll on your resources. And I just had a brutal mission where I lost my main Sniper so I don't even have him to rely on if things get crazy on the ground.

Good news is I haven't lost one of the 10 nations yet (there is a lose state if enough leave like in EU) but S. Africa and Australia are barely funding me anymore since I've done so poorly. That's something else I've noticed here: Unlike in UFO where you can take down a few UFOs and have the whole world love you in the early game, unless you've got enough coverage (which you won't at first) you WILL start losing favor/funding from the world until you can catch up. UFO activity is going to happen outside of your coverage zone and it will strongly effect your overall funding, and the worst part is you will SEE where it happens and how often due to the way the game handles reports. No charts anymore, just markers on the map with descriptions of what's going on in places you can't reach.

So yeah, I think as far as the invasion itself is concerned Xenonauts has nailed that feeling of constantly being overwhelmed and not having the ability to stop it. Now this might be because I decided to jump in on Veteran (2nd highest difficulty) but either way based on first impressions alone I feel like this is something that Xenonauts surpasses UFO in. I mean you get the waves of UFOs later on in X-COM but even if you ignore a bunch of them you might be able to scrape through just as well as normal. Doesn't seem like that will be the case here.

Wow, good job Xenonauts. I think it just did something that surpasses even the original X-COM. It just left me feeling absolutely helpless to stop the invasion. [i]In the third month. Against medium UFOs.[/i]

November was an absolute disaster. I had been doing pretty well at taking down any UFOs that came into my radar until now, but then I'm suddenly hit with waves upon waves of medium class UFOs that are almost impossible for a single interceptor to take even with some upgraded weaponry. Money's extremely tight from what I've seen so far and creating even a single laser weapon takes a toll on your resources. And I just had a brutal mission where I lost my main Sniper so I don't even have him to rely on if things get crazy on the ground.

Good news is I haven't lost one of the 10 nations yet (there is a lose state if enough leave like in EU) but S. Africa and Australia are barely funding me anymore since I've done so poorly. That's something else I've noticed here: Unlike in UFO where you can take down a few UFOs and have the whole world love you in the early game, unless you've got enough coverage (which you won't at first) you WILL start losing favor/funding from the world until you can catch up. UFO activity is going to happen outside of your coverage zone and it will strongly effect your overall funding, and the worst part is you will SEE where it happens and how often due to the way the game handles reports. No charts anymore, just markers on the map with descriptions of what's going on in places you can't reach.

So yeah, I think as far as the invasion itself is concerned Xenonauts has nailed that feeling of constantly being overwhelmed and not having the ability to stop it. Now this might be because I decided to jump in on Veteran (2nd highest difficulty) but either way based on first impressions alone I feel like this is something that Xenonauts surpasses UFO in. I mean you get the waves of UFOs later on in X-COM but even if you ignore a bunch of them you might be able to scrape through just as well as normal. Doesn't seem like that will be the case here.

Prime Hunter

2014-09-26 06:05:08 pm

I want to cry now. Just found out that there's going to be a co-op X-COM board game coming out later this year and it sounds pretty interesting. The catch? The aliens are run by an APP of all things! You can't play the game unless you either have a smart phone or are near the internet in some fashion to get a browser version of the AI. And that article praises the game for doing that! It's turning a turn based strategy game into real time snap decisions. "15 seconds to choose which nations to send the interceptors!" is one example they used.

I mean it could work and be a lot of fun, and part of me is hoping it is to further promote the X-COM brand. But that immediately turned me off from buying it unless there's a way to simulate this AI through normal means.

tomatobob

2014-09-26 06:31:17 pm

One shall stand, one shall ball.

yeah that actually sounds kind of annoying. :/

XCOM is about long considered mistakes not rushed decisions. Staring a Muton for five minutes knowing you fucked up and will die no mater what you do is key to the XCOM experience.

Prime Hunter

2015-06-03 07:16:06 am

Oh Tomatobob...

XCOM 2 Announced for November! Drool

Now with Snakemen! aiwebs_011

tomatobob

2015-06-03 08:32:04 am

One shall stand, one shall ball.

Ouch my wallet!

Oh man so hyped for Snakemen. Missed those guys.

Prime Hunter

Edit history:

Prime Hunter: 2015-06-03 04:04:23 pm

2015-06-03 04:04:13 pm

Snakemen were always my favorites from UFO so I'm very excited to see them return in such a fashion. Apparently the rumor is they can pull you out of cover (with their tongues I think?) which definitely gives them a unique ability. And if you ask me, she also seems very menacing and fits in well with the re-imagined aliens from EU.

Prime Hunter

2015-06-12 10:13:03 pm

Okay, I'm already getting pretty hyped for XCOM 2 after this last week. IGN has had a bunch of articles on the game, from the reasons why they're going PC only, to the procedural maps (sounds like it'll be like the originals with built set pieces arranged randomly across the map) as well as showing off two of the revised classes and the new aliens we've seen so far. The new Sectoids (Sectoid/Human hybrids like Apocalypse) and the Vipers sound awesome and deadly at the same time. Vipers especially seem outright monstrous. They can shoot you with Plasma, drag you out of cover with their tongues, and then coil you up and strangle you sort of like the Seekers can in EW from what it sounds like. They confirmed that Vipers and Thin Men are one in the same, as they no longer need to blend in, meaning they still have the acid spit among their new skills too.

And of course I just remembered multiplayer, assuming they still have it. Can't wait to lead my army of Vipers around. Twisted Evil

tomatobob

2015-06-13 03:17:40 am

One shall stand, one shall ball.

OH GOOD I'M SO GLAD THAT POISON SHIT WILL STILL BE AROUND TO FUCK MY ANUS SOME MORE!

Fukkin Impossible Thin Men, man, fukkin Impossible Thin Men.

Prime Hunter

2015-06-13 07:06:25 pm

I got an iPhone earlier this year and naturally I picked up XCOM EW for it as soon as I could. Finally got to the base defense mission on my most recent run since it's harder to play in longer stretches... I've got a single Colonel Heavy, some Squaddies (mostly Snipers, joy) and the rookies and the first things they sent at me were Muton Elites and Cyberdiscs.

This might take a few attempts, if I have any shot at all knowing what likely lies at the end... not looking like I have very good odds on this one.