|
Use robots
|
#
?
Sep 18, 2014 02:00
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 2, 2024 10:15 |
|
|
Beat the game last night. Was a little disappointed to see that the game ends up suffering from Civilization Snowball Syndrome -- the game's difficulty just continues to drop as you get more goodies; after about the third month I had only one death aside from the cutscene death of your supreme psychic at the end. Though the last mission was pretty tough. So I have a few questions:
|
|
#
?
Sep 18, 2014 21:46
|
|
|
Now go and join the insanity that is Long War.  One thing's for sure, it does fix the snowball syndrome.Vicevirtuoso posted:[*]I had my covert operative get Mimetic Skin near the end of the game -- my only one with that mod, since a lot of my Meld went into making 2 MEC-3s. I noticed that the operative stayed cloaked when moving to new cover. Is that just a visual bug or can you actually run around in perma-stealth as long as you have full cover? You pretty much can as long as you don't break stealth in some way. The rating doesn't do anything as far as I can tell. It's nice in some cases when enemies could do worse things than just try and shoot you.
|
|
#
?
Sep 18, 2014 21:53
|
|
|
Vicevirtuoso posted:Beat the game last night. Was a little disappointed to see that the game ends up suffering from Civilization Snowball Syndrome -- the game's difficulty just continues to drop as you get more goodies; after about the third month I had only one death aside from the cutscene death of your supreme psychic at the end. Though the last mission was pretty tough. So I have a few questions:
|
|
#
?
Sep 18, 2014 21:56
|
|
|
Vicevirtuoso posted:Beat the game last night. Was a little disappointed to see that the game ends up suffering from Civilization Snowball Syndrome -- the game's difficulty just continues to drop as you get more goodies; after about the third month I had only one death aside from the cutscene death of your supreme psychic at the end. Though the last mission was pretty tough. So I have a few questions:
|
|
#
?
Sep 18, 2014 22:10
|
|
|
So that's why Mimetic Skin is so expensive. From the in-game description, it sounded like you'd lose your invisibility as soon as you moved. Combine that with the fact that I thought "high cover" meant "being in cover at a high elevation" instead of "full-shield cover" and it seemed like it was basically just there for perched Snipers to stay safe from Seekers/enemy drop-ins on a rooftop. I'll certainly give that a go on my next playthrough. I feel like going through one more EW game before playing Long War; this time I'll try different builds and tactics, and see if I can win without a single death. For one thing, I never once deployed a SHIV, so I'm going to make them a major research focus this time around.
|
|
#
?
Sep 18, 2014 22:46
|
|
|
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe firing while you are invisible confers bonuses as well. The reason mimetic skin makes snap shot snipers so nasty is as follows. You start a turn in full cover, invisible. You shoot someone, now you are visible. You move to a different bit of full cover, now you are invisible again. Repeat forever. Also when you get to max rank, don't worry about what kind of cover you hide behind, it's all good.
|
|
#
?
Sep 18, 2014 23:01
|
|
|
JT Jag posted:Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe firing while you are invisible confers bonuses as well. Increased critical chance.
|
|
#
?
Sep 18, 2014 23:31
|
|
|
quote:it does fix the snowball syndrome. It does not entirely succeed, as I understand it, looking from outside. People have been remarking fairly often lately that after the first few months of survival, they've basically gotten what they require and it's a case of waiting till the end-the aliens can't stop them. Which was, I believe, what Long War was trying to stop. Bloodly fucked around with this message at 04:39 on Sep 19, 2014 |
|
#
?
Sep 19, 2014 04:32
|
|
|
Fortunately, inflating artificial dramatic tension is also something I can do!
|
|
#
?
Sep 19, 2014 06:09
|
|
|
Vicevirtuoso posted:
See I really really like Psi Panic. Usually because I play a really aggressive game. Nothing worse than running around the corner with an alien around the corner you can't quite kill because no one has a high enough shot. Psi Panic pretty much gives you 1 free turn of not having to worry about getting shot at. It's saved my rear end a few times when I've had someone with a 15% chance to hit or a 100% chance to Psi Panic. I find it infinitely better than the other choice.
|
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2014 02:05
|
|
|
Next update will also involve more base-building and character-upgrading, but there will be a spot of action. Finalizing it now.
|
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2014 02:21
|
|
|
Bobbin Threadbare posted:Even if the interrogation isn't fatal, what else would they do with a live alien? Throw it in Gitmo for indefinite detention? Ain't no alien signed the Geneva Conventions, plus most of them have had their ability to make moral decisions surgically or genetically removed. My glee at discovering you murdered the crap out of your extraterrestrial detainees after torturing them for information makes me think that I'm going to be a hardcore Earth First zealot if we ever discover life from other planets for reals. Death to the alien!
|
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2014 03:28
|
|
|
Part 15: April Mutations and Nightmares!  Hey, Cam, what’s up? I was just about to get my hair cut, then go into the tanks to get my electro-skin! Monique, I, uh…I had a very…VERY bad nightmare involving you. I’ve been scared to death to think of what those Chryssalids would have done if I hadn’t been there first… I’ll spare you the details, but, uh…“Watkin’s Nightmare” posted:
Brrr… Those things scare the poo poo out of me. And you’ve been a pretty good friend during all of this, no, a great friend during all this. So be careful, okay? Well, all the more reason for me to get modded up, so I can help you out, right? I’ll be fine. See you in three days, okay? *hug*    And now to blow most of the rest of our hard-earned cash on a thermo generator, a new weapons development center for Dr. Shen, and, I guess, another interceptor over South America. With the new Phoenix Cannon weapon installed on it just to be safe.TIME PASSES!    Ah, here Monique Leroy comes! How do you feel? Ahhh…gaaah… I feel so…funky! Could you please disrobe so we could give you a full-body scan? Oh, this is good, very good, no toxicity, deformation or cancer detected. Can you describe how you feel? It’s…crazy, but not bad, not bad at all! I can feel all the electricity flowing through the machines around me, the heat in your bodies… Heh. I bet I could feel an alien through a wall like this. Detecting a metal squid like a seeker should be no problem. You’ll even be able to send out a small electromagnetic pulse to disrupt their invisibility. Speaking of which… Your turn to go in the tanks, Hilda. I just sold a lot of valuable alien equipment on the Gray Market to be able to afford this, and you’ll be soaking up most of the meld we’ve acquired so far, too. So you are FORBIDDEN to die, do you hear me? I could buy several satellites for what I’m spending on you. It’s okay, sir. I promise I won’t waste your money or time, and besides, if the invisibility pans out, it’ll be all that much easier to hide. Take care, okay, Hilda? Sure, Cam. No problem. Right? We’re going in one at a time so we don’t need to worry about any more crazy body-switches…yeah…MORE TIME PASSES!  Another success! Gaaaaaahhhhh…blaaah! That…that was weird. I dreamed I was flying through a city made of spaghetti…but it’s over now. Please disrobe, Ms. Van Doorn, so we can examine your body in detail. The procedure cost this much because human skin is the largest organ on the body; your skin is able to produce the same invisible smokescreen that the seekers emit, from your pores. So cool…but it’s not perfect. No, sadly. Your best strategy for vanishing would be to do it out of sight of the enemy, and to hold still against a flat surface when they are looking at you. You’ll also need to wear the stripped-down “sleeveless” armor that Watkins and Leroy are utilizing, because it will make it much easier for your skin to emit the smokescreen. Well, I haven’t noticed any particular mood changes in myself… Your arm is disappearing. Oops, that does that sometimes…but yeah, I feel great. I’ll let you know in the future if it seems like this is psychologically affecting me. And Cam and Monique, too. Don’t think of it as snitching, we’re dealing with too many unknowns here. Oh, I know, I know. Ladies and gentlemen of XCOM: We have lasers!   YESSS! YEAAAAH! LASERS! LASERS! LASERS! Only a laser assault rifle and pistol for now, I’m afraid, but I’m working on equivalents to a sniper rifle, a heavy laser that could replace our machine guns, and so on. Let’s try to build some armor in the meantime, now that our troops are getting too valuable to lose.  Commander, you’ve brought the world a step closer to stability. Thanks, Mr. Councilman. I’m hoping to completely stabilize Asia next…the Foundry’s electronics are going to get really expensive without the help of the Asian tech sector.To be continued…
|
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2014 04:13
|
|
Grruuughhh
|
Gah! It hurts me just to look at that inefficient base layout with 2 satellite uplinks that can't have horizontal adjacency bonus because you took up you space with lame normal power generators! I hope that your new thermo generator mean you can get rid of those power generators and replace them with satellite stuff later.
I can have moments of... eccentricity and sometimes be quite curious about things. Please forgive me if I do something foolish or rude.
|
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2014 11:38
|
|
|
Stephen9001 posted:Gah! It hurts me just to look at that inefficient base layout with 2 satellite uplinks that can't have horizontal adjacency bonus because you took up you space with lame normal power generators! I hope that your new thermo generator mean you can get rid of those power generators and replace them with satellite stuff later. Sacrifices must be made if you don't have readily accessible steam to put some valves on. You need 5 uplinks anyway if I recall correctly, so Speedball can just drop the next one downwards if he can't clear the space in time.
|
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2014 13:51
|
|
|
Omobono posted:Sacrifices must be made if you don't have readily accessible steam to put some valves on. You need 5 uplinks anyway if I recall correctly, so Speedball can just drop the next one downwards if he can't clear the space in time. well, I always try to go for 2 uplinks and 2 of the better rooms, that way it's only a 2x2 square taken! But that's just me sperging out over efficiency a bit. I can have moments of... eccentricity and sometimes be quite curious about things. Please forgive me if I do something foolish or rude.
|
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2014 14:28
|
|
|
Don't worry, I'm dismantling one of the power generators so I can have a square of uplinks.
|
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2014 14:33
|
|
|
Speedball posted:Don't worry, I'm dismantling one of the power generators so I can have a square of uplinks. Omobono posted:Sacrifices must be made if you don't have readily accessible steam to put some valves on. You need 5 uplinks anyway if I recall correctly, so Speedball can just drop the next one downwards if he can't clear the space in time. Two uplinks + two nexuses in a square configuration will max. 8 from the nexuses, 4 from the uplinks, and then four adjacency bonuses for 16. SwissArmyDruid fucked around with this message at 20:07 on Sep 20, 2014 |
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2014 20:04
|
|
|
SwissArmyDruid posted:Two uplinks + two nexuses in a square configuration will max. 8 from the nexuses, 4 from the uplinks, and then four adjacency bonuses for 16. Can you afford a nexus by the time you saturate 2 uplinks? Heck, can you afford it by the time you saturate 3? Because that was always my problem; it may come down to different research priorities, since I prioritize weapons and armor.
|
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2014 20:21
|
|
|
I don't think it's really realistic to build only the "most optimal" base layout without ever either losing out on adjacency bonuses or tearing down an existing building. Bootstrapping yourself by throwing down building where they fit makes a huge improvement in your immediate capabilities at the cost of long-term inefficiency...but long-term inefficiency isn't a huge deal because by the time it matters, you'll be vastly more capable.
|
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2014 20:31
|
|
|
Mission 16: Enemy Within! RIGHT! We have another downed UFO. It’s small, so it should be easy to clear, and in the interests of fairness, we’re taking along some of our under-experienced men, like Zhang, Zinchenko and…gently caress me, the guy who thinks he’s Hulk Hogan. You think you can handle XCOM, you insidious alien invaders?! Mutons! Outsiders! Thin Men! Sectoids! Seekers! Whatchagonna do when Mimi Bar-Lev, Cammy Watkins, Pixie Leroy, “Hornless Dragon” Zhang, No-Scope Zinchenko and Hulkamania run wild on YOU!? (Pretty sure he’s faking mental illness to get out of service…) A farm, huh? No problem! I’m a trained suburban commando! They can’t handle these 24-inch pythons! Pfft. I used to have pythons, they were a lot less useful in combat than you’d think. It’s having legs that wins wars. No, it’s having grenades! Okay, I’ll sneak around the buildings, with my new sensory powers I should be able to sense anyone hiding around the corners! Aaaah! Yup, yup, definitely SOMETHING inside this barn. You sure it’s not cattle? Or the farmers who live here? This doesn’t feel like cows. Or goats. Or chickens. Would you even know what those felt like? You haven’t had a chance to test it on livestock. Look, it’s a pair of aliens, I guarantee it! Stack up on the doors! Sectoids! I told you!  Well, let’s see how hard this gun hits! …pretty hard, it seems! Alright, Zinchenko, you’re up. Test out that laser pistol! Hmmm, not a very good angle. Guess that means it’s time for a grenade! Oh, come ON!  Frag out! WHY DO YOU NEVER SHOOT YOUR GUNS!? Hahahahahahaha! My no-scope streak continues! We needed to field-test the alien grenade anyway… Spotted the other goo container—hey, that’s where the saucer crashed. Pancake. Yeah. Okay. The leader will probably still be camped out inside it, and there’s at least one more squad roaming around out here. Be careful.  Aaah, hell, that’s where he is! My cover’s bad, popping smoke! I’m right behind it Taking it out! !!! !!! !!! What’s Vahlen trying to say? Something about “stop blowing up the ship,” I stopped caring after the third time so I’ve got her on mute.  Alien soldiers behind me! poo poo! I’m outta here! They don’t look so tough. If I could handle Andre the Giant I can take these guys. Do NOT try to wrestle them while they have guns! Bah, these laser pistols are crap! I only gave it a goddamn suntan! I need more grenades! MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE BASE!  Commander, the prisoner we picked up in France…he’s dead! Someone murdered him! What?!BACK AT THE ACTION…  Aiiiie, those guns HURT! Suck it up, squad leader! I’m over 60 and I’m still going strong! gently caress you, I think I lost part of a finger. I am finishing off the far alien. Great job, Zhang! My turn! Capturing him so we get more copies of their weapons! Yessss! Hey, my pinkie’s growing back! Thank goodness… Pretty good job, everyone… Zinchenko, sooner or later you’re going to have to kill someone using your GUN. That’s a matter of opinion, friend. And next time, Hogan, maybe you should try actually fighting the aliens if you want to get a pay upgrade. …Hogan? Where are you? Heh. Thank you for the laser gun. We’ll learn a lot from it. Where the hell are you? Hogan? Hogan?! Not my real name. Goodbye, XCOM. We don’t know where the hell he went, Commander! He stripped off his uniform with the tracking device on it and ran off somewhere. It’s worse than that, Watkins. Much worse. The mystery guy we captured a few weeks ago? He’s dead. Someone inside XCOM poisoned him, and we found a note hidden in our runaway’s locker. I was trying to tell them but somebody put me on mute! …erk.  By now, you’ve found my brother and what I’ve done to him. You should know that I’m taking the opportunity to sabotage the downed alien craft when we find it, so you learn as little about it as possible. You XCOM are such fools, so much so that all I needed to do to win you over was to pretend to be an even bigger fool. The time for pretending will soon be over. Goodbye. If we ever meet again, you won’t even recognize me. gently caress, gently caress FUUUUCK! This is what I get for not probing the recruits more deeply. I knew he was faking his delusion, but I didn’t realize that he had an ulterior motive beyond that. I was expecting Corporal Klinger, not a double agent. …poo poo. Um…Commander…I need to speak to you and Leroy in your private office…To be Continued! Speedball fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Sep 23, 2014 |
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 01:05
|
|
|
Ooh poo poo. Looks like Bar-Lev's about to come clean. The Commander already knows, of course, but this sure as poo poo ain't gonna help the team any. Weirdo not-Hulk Hogan flipping evil is bad enough, but a trusted team-mate admitting she was a double agent?
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 01:22
|
|
|
HULK HOGAN, HOW COULD YOU TURN HEEL SO QUICK!?
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 01:32
|
|
|
Night10194 posted:HULK HOGAN, HOW COULD YOU TURN HEEL SO QUICK!? Because Exalted is trying to establish a new world order 
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 02:03
|
|
|
Night10194 posted:HULK HOGAN, HOW COULD YOU TURN HEEL SO QUICK!? I guess that makes EXALT the-- Section Z posted:Because Exalted is trying to establish a new world order --dammit.
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 02:12
|
|
|
Section Z posted:Because Exalted is trying to establish a new world order Does that make Vince McMahon the leader of EXALT? And if yes, then who shall stand up to him?
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 02:53
|
|
|
Convoluted betrayal? Calling people "brother"? Mustache? Great. You hired Revolver Ocelot. Real stellar work, XCOM. On the upside, he's probably going to betray EXALT before too long. And then whoever he betrayed EXALT to. And probably the next guy too.
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 02:53
|
|
|
Section Z posted:Because Exalted is trying to establish a new world order I believe you mean New World Organization
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 02:54
|
|
|
Part 17: Audience Participation Time! All right, staff and soldiers of XCOM: we’ve got options. Too many options to realistically pursue for the future. So I’m going to weigh my options with your help. Specifically, with regards to research paths. Right now, we could focus on a number of different avenues, and which we choose first will determine the course of the war. 1. More specialized types of lasers. Big lasers for repeaters to replace our machine guns, laser cannons for our interceptors and a giant gun for Bar-Lev. This would take about 8 days. Other specialized lasers to fill the role of a scatter-gun and a sniper rifle would take about 9 days in addition to the simple big ones. 2. Carapace Armor. A good offense has helped us so far, but being able to take a hit from the enemy plasma weapons would be good too. Should we favor somewhat more defensive options then? 3. Outsider Shard Research. This is the key to locating the source of the alien threat on Earth, according to the scattered images we’ve seen in the minds of the interrogated aliens. It would only take 6 days to research, after which we could attempt to wipe out their supposed land base hidden somewhere on earth. This could make the immediate future much easier, assuming we believe our weapons are up to snuff for the moment. We would also likely get more alien power sources which we could use to upgrade Bar-Lev’s armor and secondary weapon systems. We also need to decide what to do with our limited funding. 1. Satellites everywhere. Spending the time to get more advanced computer systems and deploy coverage over multiple continents as soon as possible, so that within two months time almost the entire globe is abduction-free. 2. Foundry Weapon Development. We are working on ways of creating an automated weapon system that could make rookies obsolete. Fully upgrading it would take a lot of time, money and parts, but the end result would be a fast, accurate rolling death machine with a lot of armor able to fit in the space of a single person. 3. Foundry Support Development. Better medkits formed from the disinfecting properties of Thin Man physiology, better pistols, minor upgrades to tertiary systems in our cyborgs and critical hit chances from our SCOPES, improved tactical rigging to get more pockets on everyone to carry more stuff. Nothing spectacular, but all-around, safer, better-supported troops. 4. Officer Development. Saving up money to complete all the training that General Van Doorn has to offer us, including rapid wound recovery, leadership skills that would let our squad leader inspire the weak-willed troops, and a faster learning curve in general for our rookies. 5. Meld Additional Traits. We still haven’t modified the eyes of our three mutant test subjects; how would you choose to do it and in what way (one is better for height advantages, the other helps them hit if they squint after a miss). Do we give jumpy legs to Princess? Regenerating health OR jumpy legs to Leroy? Mimetic Skin to Watkins? Do we give additional traits to our as-yet-unmutated troops Eva, Dr. Gomez or Hugo? This is more than just a vote. Try to give your reasons for these things, either tactical, or aesthetic (“robots with lasers are cool!” “I love people who can leap tall buildings in a single bound!”) FINALLY, for extra credit, we’re taking suggestions for movie night and game night. As the second-geekiest person here next to our dear departed Allen, Cameron Watkins will personally give her thoughts and overview on standout selections provided by you, the staff.
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 05:49
|
|
|
Satellights Everywhere. Because seriously, abductions are bullshit. Also, because I really really hate losing countries when I play. Also, you'll get more money, engineers and scientists, which is always just great. Outsider shard research. Mostly for that sweet, sweet panic reduction. Also, I think it might put a stop to abductions?
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 05:54
|
|
|
Outsider shard research. It's easy to play it safe and not advance the plot until you're sure you're ready for it. I want us to press forward recklessly. Foundry weapon development. Both in the original X-COM LP and in the ongoing Jade Star LP of this game, I managed to snag the role of the RPV pilot (though since the latter isn't a narrative RP, it's pretty much an honorary title). I'd love to be XCOMized once again, but frankly, as long as you take an RPV along on missions, I'll be happy. Maybe you can make it an AI instead. Some sort of dimwitted puppy-like yaaay I'm helping robot.
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 05:59
|
|
|
Lasers, because I really like the big gun that MECs get with laser research. Better guns also means better killing potential for all of your guys. Follow it up with armor, since your troopers need to be able to take a hit better.Speedball posted:...I can totally turn the SHIVs into Tachikomas. Muahahahahahahahahahahaha Never mind, go for the SHIVs instead, would love to see a Tachikoma along for this ride. GhostStalker fucked around with this message at 06:08 on Sep 21, 2014 |
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 06:04
|
|
|
FredMSloniker posted:Maybe you can make it an AI instead. Some sort of dimwitted puppy-like yaaay I'm helping ...I can totally turn the SHIVs into Tachikomas. Muahahahahahahahahahahaha
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 06:05
|
|
|
Lazers and Satellites Everywhere!
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 06:10
|
|
|
Speedball posted:...I can totally turn the SHIVs into Tachikomas. Muahahahahahahahahahahaha Tachikomas are the best and should be in more things, so yes, you should do that.
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 06:10
|
|
|
Outsider Shard Research because while we'd like to bulk ourselves out before tackling the alien threat, that's not a luxury they're going to give us. Every month we wait is another month of people getting abducted and killed, and that's not a currency we're willing to spend. Satellites everywhere this helps keep the currency of civilian lives under control, and gives us a presence that will help funding. Right now we're cash-limited rather than other resources, so if we want to be aggressive we'll need grateful countries giving a hand. Starship Troopers for movie night. Depending on who you talk to it's either a good bad movie or a bad good one, but either way it's memorable and relevant.
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 06:11
|
|
|
Carapace Armor It'll be nice to have defense that can stand up to the enemy. Satellites Everywhere Every time the aliens launch an abduction campaign, we fail two missions and mass civilian losses result. We must stop that as soon as possible.
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 06:21
|
|
|
More specialized lasers because getting Princess, Bar-Lev and Zhang outfitted with beamy-deff guns is very important. Though I would go with the ground troop lasers before the Interceptor lasers, and once that is done, Carapace armor, because I feel like we should prepare for the worst case scenario. (Unless it's Zhang, then we get to cut some limbs off.) Satellites Everywhere with the funding increase, would make many options other than this one, more feasible. Movie Night: Decisions decisions... I really wanna say John Carpenter's The Thing because that is one of my favorite alien movies of all time... But at the same time, I feel like They Live is so much more appropriate. So yeah, tossing that in as my vote, if only for the reaction to the fight scene between Roddy Piper and Kieth David. Alternatively you could make it a double feature and watch both...
IBlameRoadSuess fucked around with this message at 06:36 on Sep 21, 2014 |
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 06:31
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 2, 2024 10:15 |
|
|
Satellites Everywhere, you gotta catch them all! LAZERS, because the best defense is a good offense. There are probably XCOM members who still haven't seen Star Wars, which is of course unbearable. Educate them!
|
|
#
?
Sep 21, 2014 07:29
|
|
