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I think I'd enjoy a mod that rebalances the mid game with less Advent and more aliens. In my campaign I felt like I saw Sectoids - A lot Snakes - Fair amount early then they largely disappear Mutons - A handful Chryssalids - One story mission, one retaliation Wasn't a fan of the Gatekeeper having an huge area of effect that attack that 100% converts the VIP to a zombie even when they're hunkered down out of sight (civs are fine) autofailing the mission with no possible remedy except making sure it doesn't get a turn.
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Feb 17, 2016 18:29
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| # ? Jun 8, 2024 02:18 |
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I don't think anyone answered, if I have two psi-operatives with Dominate do they both get to do so in a mission?
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Feb 17, 2016 18:30
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Hellburger99 posted:Is there a way to counter every dark event? I'm seeing folks around the web say that they don't find dark events challenging because they just counter them all, but I'm getting two to three at a time and having to choose which one to get rid of and which ones to just accept. Am I doing something wrong or is this working as intended. Working as intended. People are likely trying to say that the dark events that happen don't impact much except the one they choose to counter, which really just means they are getting super lucky. Having to choose between rural checkpoints and major breakthrough or hunt XCOM is stressful.
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Feb 17, 2016 18:31
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Coolguye posted:Working as intended. People are likely trying to say that the dark events that happen don't impact much except the one they choose to counter, which really just means they are getting super lucky. Having to choose between rural checkpoints and major breakthrough or hunt XCOM is stressful. I get to choose between UFO Hunt or double intel prices. Which normally would suck, but I'm saving up intel for a while anyway, so I'll take the hunt out since I don't have turrets up and running yet.
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Feb 17, 2016 18:34
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RBA Starblade posted:I don't think anyone answered, if I have two psi-operatives with Dominate do they both get to do so in a mission? Yes.
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Feb 17, 2016 18:34
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PantsBandit posted:Complaining about missing 65% shots is silly for obvious reasons but it does bother me that they don't display the dodge chance. If you were only getting dodged every once in a blue moon I guess I can see them not making that clear but Archons and Snake Tits both seem to have a really high chance to dodge. It impacts the tactical situation and should be more clear. Missing one in three on 65% is fine. Missing four in a row starts to get a little bullshit, given how badly a missed shot can screw you over. It just weakens the core of the game, in which you are supposed to move your soldiers and use your abilities to stack the deck in your favor. If four of my guys can't hit a target that's standing in the open without cover, a target I need to kill in one round or (probably) lose a guy and which takes ten or more damage to kill, you just get the impression that the game is deciding to poo poo on you for no good reason.
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Feb 17, 2016 18:35
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With my team getting hosed by Archons I've been rotating people back in and the Ranger is excellent in retaliations and with a shredder gun. I use the sword mostly as a backup weapon and put the ranger at strategic points; if something runs by she gets a chance to kill them! I still haven't used more than one though. And concealment is still useless. ulmont posted:Yes. Badass.
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Feb 17, 2016 18:35
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ArchangeI posted:You know, it's kinda insulting how the game tells you to flank and remove cover only to have your guys unable to make shots on targets in the open because apparently 70% hit chances mean one in five shots hit. Love it. Makes those berserker packs so much easier. Blowing half my consumables on the first pack of a retaliation mission and not even kill because literally no one can hit 65%+ shots makes me not want to play this game anymore. Just wait until you miss your first 95% shot.  Probability requires a bigger sample size than one fight. It is, indeed, possible that four out of five 70% shots miss. A 65% shot isn't much better than a coin flip--it's better, but not much better. Blowing up cover and flanking can help you improve your chances and are absolutely worth doing, but sometimes the dice just don't go your way. My recommendation? I'll echo some old Beagle advice: always ask yourself, before every shot, "What happens if this shot misses?" Try to have an answer to that question. Maybe you have a flashbang you can throw, or a mimic beacon. Maybe someone else has a good shot. Maybe you can overwatch with someone and try to catch someone leaving cover. If you don't have an answer, reconsider taking that shot and see if there's something else you can do. Sure, sometimes you'll make enough mistakes and get enough bad rolls that everything hinges on one shot, but if you keep in mind the larger picture with every shot, that shouldn't happen often. RBA Starblade posted:Badass. Always Be Dominating. Ever Dominated a Gatekeeper? That's what entertainment is made of. (Concealment isn't even close to useless, though. My Phantom Ranger was probably MVP in my last campaign because of how many ambushes he let me pull off in conjunction with my sniper's Kill Zone and my Grenadier shooting grenades/rockets to start the fight.) Harrow fucked around with this message at 18:42 on Feb 17, 2016 |
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Feb 17, 2016 18:39
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Waffles Inc. posted:I totally agree on this. I played a ton of EU/EW (including I/I and whatnot) and maybe it's because that was pretty different in focus and mechanics, but I feel like in this game when a mission goes pear-shaped you're essentially hosed, but until that point you're in total control, especially with conceal. I feel like this is in part due to the procedural maps. In EW after a certain point you knew the terrain so well that it was easier to keep a handle on things. In this one everything is less predictable.
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Feb 17, 2016 18:42
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I'm not very good at XCOM, so I'm playing Veteran/Iron Man. What is the recommended build order? I'm trying GTS -> Power -> Workshop -> Res Comms -> ???, but I think I should be building the AWC sooner since my dudes keep getting wounded. It's really hindering my ability to level up my squads this run even with the faster healing bonus enabled at HQ.
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Feb 17, 2016 18:50
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along the way posted:I'm not very good at XCOM, so I'm playing Veteran/Iron Man. I've always been able to squeeze in both the GTS and AWC prior to building power, so then it's GTS - AWC - Power - Comm - Workshop
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Feb 17, 2016 18:56
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along the way posted:I'm not very good at XCOM, so I'm playing Veteran/Iron Man. Build that AWC. It'll get your veterans back in fighting shape and before you know it, you'll have maximum squad size unlocked! Also don't forget about Res Comms. Spending out that intel on more regions will pay back a lot in the next supply drop and increase the odds of giving access to an alien facility to chop down the Advent Doom Timer, which will give you a lot of options: More gadgets? Spend it on radio towers to drop intel costs AND boost the next supply drop? More recruits to throw into GTS? e: Having a strong supply income will also give you the pragmatic choice to ignore some retaliation missions since the penalty for losing those is losing the attached region (which you can then re-contact immediately if you have the Intel and TIME to do so) Erata fucked around with this message at 19:00 on Feb 17, 2016 |
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Feb 17, 2016 18:57
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Harrow posted:Just wait until you miss your first 95% shot. Well, the other end of the issue there is if you're too conservative, you can end up burning through your consumables early on and end up getting hit with a much tougher encounter later in the mission without the gear to deal with it. It really is a balancing act. That's half the fun though.
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Feb 17, 2016 18:57
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Harrow posted:My recommendation? I'll echo some old Beagle advice: always ask yourself, before every shot, "What happens if this shot misses?" Try to have an answer to that question. Maybe you have a flashbang you can throw, or a mimic beacon. Maybe someone else has a good shot. Maybe you can overwatch with someone and try to catch someone leaving cover. If you don't have an answer, reconsider taking that shot and see if there's something else you can do. Sure, sometimes you'll make enough mistakes and get enough bad rolls that everything hinges on one shot, but if you keep in mind the larger picture with every shot, that shouldn't happen often. During active combat, you should not take any actions on a turn until you've looked through what each of your soldiers can do aim-wise, looked at where they can move to (for possible flanking actions), and check what you can hit with various grenade AoEs and such. The VERY FIRST THING you should do on a turn faced with multiple enemies is to see which of your soldiers can remove cover or otherwise make the enemies easier to hit. Then depending on the circumstances and what items/abilities/etc you still have as options, you take your less likely shots (50-70%) to see what you get lucky on. Then take your nearly guaranteed shots. If the less likely shots aren't required to finish those enemies off (or you have a mimic beacon or another way to make the enemies less likely to hit you), then those soldiers should overwatch instead.
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Feb 17, 2016 18:57
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PantsBandit posted:Complaining about missing 65% shots is silly for obvious reasons but it does bother me that they don't display the dodge chance. If you were only getting dodged every once in a blue moon I guess I can see them not making that clear but Archons and Snake Tits both seem to have a really high chance to dodge. It impacts the tactical situation and should be more clear. I'd be okay with requiring an autopsy on the species in order to see dodge percentage, but it definitely needs to be visible.
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Feb 17, 2016 18:58
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along the way posted:I'm not very good at XCOM, so I'm playing Veteran/Iron Man. GTS -> AWC -> Power/Workshop (order not important) -> Res Comms
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Feb 17, 2016 19:00
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Leveling slows down a ton from Sergeant to Lieutenant. As long as you are getting sergeants before the second supply drop you are doing fine on soldier advancement for now. Obviously as time goes on that becomes unacceptable but if you are getting these promotions an AWC is not required right away. That said, you can build 2 things and not 1 before needing to build a power station and you really, REALLY want a power station on a shielded conduit anyway, so just don't build power second. That's presuming you have a good staff though. I like to spend resources on directly recruiting scientists and engineers early, limping around with only 1 or 2 of each is suffering. Get 4 of each ASAP and suddenly the strategic layer gets a lot easier.
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Feb 17, 2016 19:00
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Digging down to a power core takes time though. It's twice as long for each lower tier, right? I need power before that!
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Feb 17, 2016 19:03
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Harrow posted:
I haven't seen one yet but I'll put it on the list of things to do asap.  quote:(Concealment isn't even close to useless, though. My Phantom Ranger was probably MVP in my last campaign because of how many ambushes he let me pull off in conjunction with my sniper's Kill Zone and my Grenadier shooting grenades/rockets to start the fight.) I've never needed concealment to ambush past the very first turn, but since mine usually involve maximum explosions, I guess it's moot. The "soldier gets concealment" hack doesn't work either, which sucks. It puts the soldier in concealment state but without any actual benefits; he can be seen from anywhere. I guess for me it's not so much useless as it is a massive crutch that will gently caress you if you rely on it for more than like two turns. quote:I'd be okay with requiring an autopsy on the species in order to see dodge percentage, but it definitely needs to be visible. The info screen needs to return. I know you can hover the arrows but it doesn't really say exactly what's happening. I had no idea flashbangs reduced aim by only 30 for example.
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Feb 17, 2016 19:03
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It's more that it requires more labor than it requires more time. If you have a full crew on the job it'll take about 10 days, ballpark. Which, again, go spend your early supply and intel windfalls on engineers. You will get work done and the resources reclaimed faster, when you need them most, and when the clearing is done you will absolutely need 4+ engineers to crew the ship anyway. You need 4 just to staff the resistance comm and power station, for goodness sake. Ideally you would just put those 2 next to the workshop, use 2 engineers in there, and then also staff the AWC and psi lab, but until you pull together the 400-500 supply to make all those upgrades, you can just put dudes to work.
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Feb 17, 2016 19:08
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Did XCom:EU let you save/load after every single move? Because for some reason I don't remember ever savescumming that game, and in Xcom 2 the very first mission was loving me on the RNG so bad that I pretty much had to. Edit: Also didn't Sharpshooters have way better range with Squadsight in EU? I remember almost always seeing around 95% and in this it's always around 75%.
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Feb 17, 2016 19:09
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Tae posted:I can't remember outside of the red mech that overwatch was an issue or even active honestly. A lot of time advent troops (at least on Commander) will rush the team and park themselves in overwatch, and frankly it's just a sigh of relief because you can deal with the overwatches more than you can deal with being shot at.
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Feb 17, 2016 19:09
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By the way as it turns out scientists aren't totally worthless, you need a minimum of 5 for some shadow chamber projects. Luckily I could just buy the fifth but it kind of feels like they're there so you don't forget about them. I sure didn't need the fourth or fifth ones for research.quote:Did XCom:EU let you save/load after every single move? Because for some reason I don't remember ever savescumming that game, and in Xcom 2 the very first mission was loving me on the RNG so bad that I pretty much had to. Yep it did. I've still only lost the one soldier on the second tutorial mission where the truck bugged out and blew up randomly. I had to reload so it wasn't a squad wipe (lmao) but the soldier was doomed regardless because someone had to hack the converter.
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Feb 17, 2016 19:10
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I think GTS is pretty important to gun for first for the squad size upgrade (you'll probably have a sergeant very quickly) and the upgrade that makes ayys drop more stuff.
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Feb 17, 2016 19:12
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I'm not really sure if this is a valid complaint or just a comment on the way the game is but... I don't even like shooting at things any more. The only actions I like taking are a) grenades/other explosives b) guaranteed success abilities or, a distant third c) flanking shots with a very high chance of success. I don't even rate normal shots at aliens behind cover, or flanking shots at a distance with less than like an 85% chance of success. The penalties for missing one shot can be bad, missing multiple is often catastrophic, especially if something has gone wrong and you're facing two pods or someones life is in danger etc. Similarly, on the defense, I prefer a) out of line of sight of the enemy completely or b) behind high cover with minimal aliens capable of targeting them to begin with. Failing either of those, I'll typically (time limit permitting) simply retreat my forces. They can't hurt what they can't shoot. I guess what I'm saying is I've started playing XCOM2 like a roguelike: Cowardice Uber Alles
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Feb 17, 2016 19:15
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Zero VGS posted:Edit: Also didn't Sharpshooters have way better range with Squadsight in EU? I remember almost always seeing around 95% and in this it's always around 75%. Yeah, and this is one of the changes that bums me out a bit because high ground can be scarce. You get penalized for taking extreme-distance shots with sniper rifles now. I forget where the penalty starts getting applied. I wanna say it's like 20 or 25 tiles. idk, maybe someone remembers the specifics. e: also you're right already. By default, sharpshooters have less accuracy than they used to in EU.
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Feb 17, 2016 19:17
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^^ I think this change is to compensate for weapon modding. You can put an a good scope on your sniper and end up with accuracy as good if not better than EW snipers. When berserkers are enraged do they have an equal chance of going after enemies and allies? At first I thought they'd attack whoever was closest but I've had them completely ignore aliens 2 feet away from them in order to rush my soldiers.
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Feb 17, 2016 19:19
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victrix posted:I'm not really sure if this is a valid complaint or just a comment on the way the game is but... Good. Get PSI and spam all of the abilities.
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Feb 17, 2016 19:19
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Looking back after 2 completed runs, I never saw the attack animation for Berserkers or captain Mutons. I've seen Sectoids shoot lasers. That's amazing.
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Feb 17, 2016 19:21
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RBA Starblade posted:I've never needed concealment to ambush past the very first turn, but since mine usually involve maximum explosions, I guess it's moot. The "soldier gets concealment" hack doesn't work either, which sucks. It puts the soldier in concealment state but without any actual benefits; he can be seen from anywhere. I actually find concealment better when it's just one person in concealment. That way, I know I can easily trigger a pod on my terms every time. Having a Phantom Ranger scouting ahead means you at least have a chance to see pods before they can see you, which gives you all the time you need to set up that explosive + Kill Zone ambush. It helps that a Grenadier's grenade range is just longer than most aliens' sight range, meaning that I can find a pod with a scouting Ranger and grenade them before they get a chance to scatter. If I've also set up a sniper on Kill Zone before that happens, the resulting carnage is just beautiful. It's a real toss-up between Conceal and Run-and-Gun for me, though. I took Conceal last campaign on my Rangers and I enjoyed it a lot--being able to hop back into concealment if I needed the Ranger to actually murder something was always nice. I like that both of those sort of work towards the same goal from different angles. Conceal + Shadowstrike means that your Ranger can scout even after you initially break concealment and can come out of concealment to just eliminate an enemy if they have to; on the other hand, Run-and-Gun doesn't rely on positioning at all and means that your Ranger is a pretty great guided missile.
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Feb 17, 2016 19:25
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What the heck was that? I just had a squad spotted by a patrol, flanking, so the officer got his free shot off... except one of the revealed pods that was alerted ALSO got a shot off, resulting in the death of one of my dudes. What's the deal there? If multiple pods are triggered, any that were flanking get free shots? If that's the case, why did the second revealed pod only have one guy take a free shot? There were two enemies in it and both had LoS.
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Feb 17, 2016 19:26
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victrix posted:What the heck was that? I just had a squad spotted by a patrol, flanking, so the officer got his free shot off... The free shot is not guaranteed. Think it's 50% chance.
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Feb 17, 2016 19:28
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victrix posted:What the heck was that? I just had a squad spotted by a patrol, flanking, so the officer got his free shot off... There's a random chance - not a guarantee, but a chance - that enemies that are activated with a shot on a unit in no cover will just take the shot instead of moving to cover.
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Feb 17, 2016 19:29
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Ah... that's wildly unclear! I mean, don't get spotted and/or flanked to begin with, but yeah
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Feb 17, 2016 19:31
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Harrow posted:I actually find concealment better when it's just one person in concealment. That way, I know I can easily trigger a pod on my terms every time. Having a Phantom Ranger scouting ahead means you at least have a chance to see pods before they can see you, which gives you all the time you need to set up that explosive + Kill Zone ambush. It helps that a Grenadier's grenade range is just longer than most aliens' sight range, meaning that I can find a pod with a scouting Ranger and grenade them before they get a chance to scatter. If I've also set up a sniper on Kill Zone before that happens, the resulting carnage is just beautiful. Run and gun has saved my life so many times now when combo'd with the "flank a guy and get extra damage with the shotgun" and "kill a guy and the first attack on you misses" perk. It's part of why the sword is now a backup weapon for me; fire the big gun, use the sword for anything running past or when I need to run and My problem with phantom rangers is that battle scanners and the scanning protocol exist, so I could have them, I guess, or I could have stronger, more survivable rangers (when I use them). And I'm bringing scanners anyway. I keep going back and forth on snipers now because when they work they're good, but seriously, even with tracers, and advantage, and shooting in the open in their optimal range, you missed three times bud? And refused to fire on the third guy who ran past? Unlike snipers who only start to become valuable in the midgame though I can see why the phantoms would always be useful, it's just not how I play at all. Snipers just do their damndest to suck against all odds, though Camera Man was catching up for a while. e: And there STILL hasn't been an aim pcs anywhere in the game yet. RBA Starblade fucked around with this message at 19:34 on Feb 17, 2016 |
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Feb 17, 2016 19:31
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They should have a "Flanked enemy spotted!" message pop up over their head, but nothing in the game rules talks about it I think.RBA Starblade posted:e: And there STILL hasn't been an aim pcs anywhere in the game yet. I got a +20 Aim PCS and +10% Scope in the same mission once. My sniper ended up with nearly two thirds of my campaign kills as a result. poptart_fairy fucked around with this message at 19:35 on Feb 17, 2016 |
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Feb 17, 2016 19:32
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e: nvm, didn't read the question carefully and it was answered anyway
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Feb 17, 2016 19:35
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Does the Leader mod get any better as it goes along? The first couple of picks aren't awful, but they don't really feel worth the time investment either. Also, is there any chance Firaxis will ever buff swords back up? It's so strange that they can't penetrate armor, although they seem to do extra damage to sectoids? Is there a tooltip about that I missed somewhere?
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Feb 17, 2016 19:38
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The hack chance is the one that annoys me most; I've seen precious few lampposts and even on high leveled specialists, it's usually "20% enemy shuts down for two turns which is more like one turn, 80% chance of a kick in the balls" and I rarely bother anymore. Usually by the time the penalty is not an issue, the situation is under control and the reward is pretty useless. Also what is a way to get intel fast, I'm down to 11. I've tried scanning at home a few times but a mission always pops up, am I supposed to scan for five days or something?
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Feb 17, 2016 19:39
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| # ? Jun 8, 2024 02:18 |
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I wish the stuff you buy in the black market would tell you what it does before you buy it. I mean I could guess that perception PCS means improving aim, but it could have reduced fog of war for all I knew until I actually had on in my inventory. They all have the same blurb and its not very helpful, compared to +22 Aim or +15 Will.
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Feb 17, 2016 19:39
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