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I'm just showing up here, so I apologize if this is old hat, but has it been hypothesized that Exalt is the XCOM from The Bureau? Seeing their getup for the first time in the Giant Bomb QL sure makes it seem that way.
Orgophlax fucked around with this message at 17:21 on Oct 9, 2013 |
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Oct 9, 2013 17:09
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Jetamo posted:How are the mech suits NOT Giant Death Robots? They totally are, but the GDRs in Civ V are more like, Mechwarrior or Gundam-sized, not Robocop-sized.
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Oct 9, 2013 17:12
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Geight posted:They totally are, but the GDRs in Civ V are more like, Mechwarrior or Gundam-sized, not Robocop-sized.
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Oct 9, 2013 17:15
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Or you know they're Dreadnought-sized, whatever floats your boat man. 
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Oct 9, 2013 17:17
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Seems like a Gunslinger Sniper with Stealth Skin would trivialize these new Exalt missions.
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Oct 9, 2013 17:18
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Geight posted:Or you know they're Dreadnought-sized, whatever floats your boat man. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUxDmKFCD2o
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Oct 9, 2013 17:21
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Orgophlax posted:I'm just showing up here, so I apologize if this is old hat, but has it been hypothesized that Exalt is the XCOM from The Bureau? Seeing their getup for the first time in the Giant Bomb QL sure makes it seem that way. One of the articles says they've said they aren't the same group.
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Oct 9, 2013 17:28
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Emong posted:One of the articles says they've said they aren't the same group. That's got to be a red herring. The Firaxis guy said in the Giant Bomb video they've been around a long time, and have been waiting for an opportunity. At the very least they were influenced by them, or someone from that group started Exalt.
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Oct 9, 2013 17:33
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I really like that Exalt seem to come at you from all angles and surround you. It's a refreshing change from slowly advancing in one direction and picking off alien pods. I'm not so sure about Exalt guys running out and ending their turns in cover though. That makes them seem less like suicidal fanatics and more like buffoons. Or buggy AIs.
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Oct 9, 2013 17:55
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Well I thought I could wait until a sale to buy Enemy Within, but it turns out I can't.quote:One of the articles says they've said they aren't the same group. I just read the wikipedia article for the game's plot, it doesn't really seem like it can tie in to Enemy Unknown all that well except as a nod and a wink here and there.
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Oct 9, 2013 18:01
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Watching those quick looks, it always makes me mad watching XCOM when someone purposefully leaves a solder exposed.
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Oct 9, 2013 18:44
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Oh man that new trailer got me so hype. Really ready for this expansion.
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Oct 9, 2013 19:41
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Well, one thing I don't like is that their pronunciation is ek-zalt instead of the obvious eks-alt.BigRed0427 posted:Watching those quick looks, it always makes me mad watching XCOM when someone purposefully leaves a solder exposed.
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Oct 9, 2013 19:47
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So other than the cost involved, what sort of downsides do MEKs and genetically engineered dudes have?
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Oct 9, 2013 19:50
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Klyith posted:Well, one thing I don't like is that their pronunciation is ek-zalt instead of the obvious eks-alt. I highly doubt they were on Easy, given the number of enemies they encountered. They probably play on Classic to show off the proper AI, since anything lower gets dumbed down.
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Oct 9, 2013 19:51
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I like how the folks joking around about Y-COM were just almost right. Get it? 'Cuz they're X-ALT? But I really like the covert ops system. That's gonna generate some fun stories--"I sent my star sniper away then got smacked with a terror mission," "When the assault pair I'd been training up since the second mission re-united in the middle of that data recovery mission I like to think they took the time for a bro-fist between showing all those office workers how to use a gun," "You'd think the EXALT guys would have gotten a little suspicious of the dude with glowing eyes who can rip open holes in space and time with a thought and reflexively camouflages themselves if they sit still for too long," etc. EW's gonna be great.
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Oct 9, 2013 19:51
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poptart_fairy posted:So other than the cost involved, what sort of downsides do MEKs and genetically engineered dudes have? Seems to just be the costs. Gene mod soldiers seem to be more versatile than non-modded (though given the skin used for them I wonder if they lose out on the advanced armors) and MEKs are basically a linear improvement from SHIVs.
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Oct 9, 2013 19:52
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That "Security Breach" trailer is pretty awesome! One question, though... in the final part of the trailer, where the base seems to be "invaded from within", those guys don't look like EXALT agents in disguise... right? They seem to be mind controlled, actually. And they do show an imprisoned Ethereal acting somewhere during the trailer. Did anyone else also get that impression, that the attack might come from the aliens, and not from the EXALT? Andre Banzai fucked around with this message at 20:32 on Oct 9, 2013 |
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Oct 9, 2013 19:53
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HaitianDivorce posted:I like how the folks joking around about Y-COM were just almost right. I still want Z-COM 
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Oct 9, 2013 19:57
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HaitianDivorce posted:
X-COM is attacked in the middle of an operation. All available soldiers are away or dead. As EXALT draws closer to the killing blow, something in the rubble stirs. As Big Sky returns with the alpha squad, and they storm towards the operations center, they find a lone SHIV surrounded by dead EXALT agents. e: I really hope we can customize SHIVs in Enemy Within. They are the best. RBA Starblade fucked around with this message at 20:18 on Oct 9, 2013 |
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Oct 9, 2013 19:58
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The female psychic in the trailer is probably Anette, the second named DLC character. I hope they did something fun with her like make her an Exalt leader, but probably not.
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Oct 9, 2013 20:03
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I'm both super stoked for this expansion because of everything they've announced regarding mechs and our new foes... but also severely disappointed that EXALT units get the option to dress snazzier than my rookies. 
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Oct 9, 2013 20:06
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HaitianDivorce posted:"You'd think the EXALT guys would have gotten a little suspicious of the dude with glowing eyes who can rip open holes in space and time with a thought and reflexively camouflages themselves if they sit still for too long," Should we start a spoiler policy for EW, since this is a thread about both a released and upcoming game? Some people might want to still talk about EU while keeping dark about the expansion.
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Oct 9, 2013 20:07
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Snow Job posted:The female psychic in the trailer is probably Anette, the second named DLC character. I hope they did something fun with her like make her an Exalt leader, but probably not. I'll bet that it's a race mission vs Exalt. If you win the mission, you get Anette. If you lose, she comes back in a further mission as an enemy.
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Oct 9, 2013 20:11
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Klyith posted:Seems likely that you'll run into Exalt guys who can do that kind of thing as well -- the RPS preview says they are much less cautious about using alien mutation goop, though who knows if that's real gameplay or just story fluff. (EW enemy spoilers) One of the other previews says that elite Exalt do have genemod abilities.
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Oct 9, 2013 20:16
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poptart_fairy posted:So other than the cost involved, what sort of downsides do MEKs and genetically engineered dudes have? With the Genetically Engineered dudes I think it's mostly the costs. You spend a giant pile of resources to give your dudes extra abilities, but otherwise it's the same soldier and he's and just as vulnerable to a thin-man critting for 12 damage on damage roulette. I think the MECs have an entirely different skill set though when they promote, with some flavoring depending on what class they were before you amputated them from the neck down. I do hope they did balance them fairly well as what we've been shown so far makes the MECs look like bigger, angrier Heavies. Heavies don't need any competition, they're already frustrating to use at times with their incredibly low accuracy, need for constant reloads, and replacing their sidearm with awesome abilities that you can only use once or twice a mission.
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Oct 9, 2013 20:35
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Alkydere posted:With the Genetically Engineered dudes I think it's mostly the costs. You spend a giant pile of resources to give your dudes extra abilities, but otherwise it's the same soldier and he's and just as vulnerable to a thin-man critting for 12 damage on damage roulette. quote:I think the MECs have an entirely different skill set though when they promote, with some flavoring depending on what class they were before you amputated them from the neck down. I do hope they did balance them fairly well as what we've been shown so far makes the MECs look like bigger, angrier Heavies. Heavies don't need any competition, they're already frustrating to use at times with their incredibly low accuracy, need for constant reloads, and replacing their sidearm with awesome abilities that you can only use once or twice a mission. I completely disagree about the Heavy vs MEC comparison though. MECs look like complete balls-out offense units that get a pile of extra HP to make up for their close-range weaponry. Heavies are not offense units, which is the reason people who try to use them as such find them frustrating or disappointing.
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Oct 9, 2013 21:15
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Klyith posted:Plus the limiting resource you need to make them is the Meld, which requires more risks to get in the first place. The balance for gen-mods seems to be that to make some dudes into super-soldiers, you're going to take way more casualties to get there. MECS have their own Upgrades/Skilltree but do have a Inherent skill that is different depending on the base class he was "promoted" from.
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Oct 9, 2013 21:27
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Klyith posted:It the MEC skilltree defined by promoted soldier thing a revealed fact, or just speculation? Because that would be both really cool (lots of options) and really awful (random class distribution means you might not have a spare of the class you'd like to promote). Ananda Gupta said it in the Three Moves Ahead podcast he was on, so yeah, I'll take that as revealed.
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Oct 9, 2013 22:07
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BigRed0427 posted:Watching those quick looks, it always makes me mad watching XCOM when someone purposefully leaves a solder exposed. Yeah seriously. Dude begins a mission, moves a Heavy first (??) though thankfully into hard cover, runs into a pod of three EXALT who immediately flank her, then he decides "hurr let's overwatch" Literally said "what the gently caress are you doing!?" out loud. Like, if they start out by loving up the existing game mechanics that badly then I doubt they're going to put in a good showing for the rest of the mission. Is there a video of somebody who has actually played this game before playing EW? because this is just painful. At least when the developers demoed it in PAX they were deliberately making bonehead moves and joking about it in order to make things more interesting.
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Oct 10, 2013 00:02
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I feel like if Firaxis wasn't attached to 2K we could've gotten a more community-oriented video, like letting Beaglerush do a blind run of a Covert Op. It'd be a bit more methodical play than we're used to seeing but I think it'd resonate a lot better with XCOM players, especially if he was able to joke around with Gupta during the game.
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Oct 10, 2013 00:08
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Mr Dog posted:Is there a video of somebody who has actually played this game before playing EW? There probably won't be. I'm not sure about this, but I really doubt lots of press copies go out for an expansion.
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Oct 10, 2013 00:16
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Oh my god, I am hype. Base defense, new enemy types, a new evil organization for X-COM to fight, new missions, new maps, new upgrades, new hats?? If I hadn't already pre-ordered the moment I saw it on steam, I would be doing it right now. Hail Solomon.
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Oct 10, 2013 00:35
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So, it looks like they've changed the movement outline to be more clear, good. It's kind of iffy in some places as it stands because everything's rounded, now you'll be able to clearly see the edges.
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Oct 10, 2013 01:05
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Mr Dog posted:Yeah seriously. Are you really yelling at the screen because of a dumb tactical move in a demo video? Seriously? Why don't you take a few deep breaths and put on some Beaglerush videos, to which I imagine you will just rock back and forth while silently stroking yourself.
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Oct 10, 2013 01:06
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Those On My Left posted:This video wasn't made to showcase anyone's skills or to teach some tactical lessons. It was made to show some things that will be in the expansion. It's frustrating when the people showing off a game expansion seem to have no experience with the game. It also occurred to me that a lot of lovely AI is being pawned off as "oh yeah Exalt are fanatics, they'll prioritise the encoder", when in reality those Exalt goons are rushing to the next objective and ending their turns flanked because the tactical AI is just poor.
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Oct 10, 2013 01:21
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Demiurge4 posted:It's frustrating when the people showing off a game expansion seem to have no experience with the game. It also occurred to me that a lot of lovely AI is being pawned off as "oh yeah Exalt are fanatics, they'll prioritise the encoder", when in reality those Exalt goons are rushing to the next objective and ending their turns flanked because the tactical AI is just poor. This is definitely reaching a bit. The alien AI (when not shackled by difficulty) rarely makes faulty moves like that - It's clearly by design that Exalt would, both to drive home the importance of the objective rather than individual operative life (on both sides!), and to somewhat balance the serious number advantage they seem to have. Not to mention most of the moves they were making were just really good. Explosive grenades were used on clumped-up or dug-in troops, smoke grenades used on clusters of Exalt, medics were healing people better than mine ever have. I could even see the chance for Exalt making a 'bad' move being something that changes with difficulty, with Impossible toning down their fanaticism in favor of leveraging their inherent advantage. e: I'm not saying there's no way you're correct, it just seems a bit cynical to jump to that conclusion already. Geight fucked around with this message at 01:30 on Oct 10, 2013 |
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Oct 10, 2013 01:27
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Geight posted:This is definitely reaching a bit. The alien AI (when not shackled by difficulty) rarely makes faulty moves like that - It's clearly by design that Exalt would, both to drive home the importance of the objective rather than individual operative life (on both sides!), and to somewhat balance the serious number advantage they seem to have. The Alien AI doesn't have a capture the flag mechanic, it is entirely devoted to killing the player. Exalt having specific goals presents challenges that I'm sure are hard to overcome because AI is always hard. It was just that, when I heard the developer wave away a clear tactical blunder by the AI as them being fanatics, I felt he wasn't being truthful.
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Oct 10, 2013 01:40
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Geight posted:This is definitely reaching a bit. The alien AI (when not shackled by difficulty) rarely makes faulty moves like that - It's clearly by design that Exalt would, both to drive home the importance of the objective rather than individual operative life (on both sides!), and to somewhat balance the serious number advantage they seem to have. Making aggressive plays because they have different priorities is fine, and dashing straight for the objectives is fine, but in that case both Exalts stopped one tile past the high cover in order to leave themselves completely open. Even if said cover was flanked by half of XCOM you'd think it'd have higher priority than being one space closer to an area they can reach next turn either way. It's not like I've never seen the Aliens make a bad decision either but that was just a tactical blunder.
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Oct 10, 2013 01:52
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I think that's part of their AI. It gives the player a chance to kill them before more Exalt show up. It seems like it would be super frustrating to have 6+ enemies in cover in front of you when new enemies pile in and flank you.
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Oct 10, 2013 02:01
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