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zyxophoj posted:Oh, and I guess it's no longer a spoiler to post this: Sick little grey man "Get fuckin ripped" says advent Pectoids forever.
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Jul 18, 2016 22:09
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Oh god I completely missed "Ayy fitness breakthrough" on my phone.
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Jul 18, 2016 22:16
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For better of worse IIRC Sectoids have a 'hidden' weakness to sword attacks?
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Jul 18, 2016 22:48
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Tylana posted:For better of worse IIRC Sectoids have a 'hidden' weakness to sword attacks?
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Jul 18, 2016 23:00
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Tylana posted:For better of worse IIRC Sectoids have a 'hidden' weakness to sword attacks? Yes, they take +3 damage from sword attacks. Source: http://xcom.wikia.com/wiki/Sectoid_(XCOM_2)
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Jul 18, 2016 23:05
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tlarn posted:That first mission when I played XCOM 2 made me go "haha, a Sectoid," followed by "oh, you're a little beefy" and then "jesus loving christ" when it took its turn. I have, not once, been concerned about a sectoid. I will generally kill the advent soldiers first, because all of their abilities do nothing. The worst thing they can do is actually shoot at you.
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Jul 18, 2016 23:48
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Tylana posted:For better of worse IIRC Sectoids have a 'hidden' weakness to sword attacks? It's actually all just Synthol and bad things happen to them if you break the skin.
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Jul 19, 2016 00:05
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Jade Star posted:Yeah, working on that. Guava is a natural soft speaker, calmer, more sensitive kind of guy than I am with my brash, louder more outspoken American ways. Interestingly, he did bump up his volume from the first recording, so I guess we still have a ways to go. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfaPbKAmFxk
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Jul 19, 2016 00:06
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Everything's weak to swords. The trick is to use enough of them 
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Jul 19, 2016 00:21
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Man, the one stylistic choice I can't get over in this game is how the radio messages have the goddamn looping, waggling head 'animation' for talking like it's Star Fox Adventure.
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Jul 19, 2016 03:40
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Unlike Xcom 1, it can be argued that almost every skill in the game is very useful. I had a pure gunner (using armor piercing bullets, scope & ammo capacity mod, and aim mod) in my team who became extremely useful at destroying the tougher enemies.. There's a particular HQ facility you can build that ended up giving my ranger one of the ultimate sniper abilities. He killed 4 or 5 aliens in one turn using that ability and a shotgun.
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Jul 19, 2016 03:51
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Yeah, you can argue X vs Y, but at least both of them have a point. They may fit different playstyles, but there's no "that's garbage" class, and even the overlooked skills are because they're alongside very useful ones (the first grenadier skill for example), not because they're a bad idea.
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Jul 19, 2016 03:59
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heh zen's testicles i'm basically 12
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Jul 19, 2016 04:35
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Rupture is fantastic on a Gunner. When they absolutely, positively, need to die now.
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Jul 19, 2016 04:36
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Bruceski posted:Yeah, you can argue X vs Y, but at least both of them have a point. They may fit different playstyles, but there's no "that's garbage" class, and even the overlooked skills are because they're alongside very useful ones (the first grenadier skill for example), not because they're a bad idea. As soon as I saw the Sniper's baseline skill being Squadsight (one of the most powerful skill options in the first game) I figured it was this and that the Jade and Guava dichotomy would be even fiercer this time around 
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Jul 19, 2016 04:39
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I need to preemptively post this in my defense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UKUGZz5Hjw
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Jul 19, 2016 04:51
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Hackers was still first 
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Jul 19, 2016 04:57
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A mod does in fact exist that shows you what the hacks are and your chance just from the hack tooltip on the target.
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Jul 19, 2016 05:09
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 Operation Zen's Testicles The first mission with a real squad! They might all be squaddies but at least we have every soldier with a class on the field and not a batch of rookies. Time to actually start feeling out the differences in our soldier types on this mission. I think I'll hold off on in depth class analysis until we rank up our troops a little farther so that the differences become more pronounced and important. All in all this mission does a good job of showing some of the unexpected things that can happen and how to roll with them when things don't go your way. So let's talk about some of those things instead! Enemies retreat! That was a surprise here, that first sectoid saw three ADVENT soldiers get gunned down in short order and just bugged out. If you kill all but a single alien sometimes that enemy will flee, running off into the shroud to find another alien pod to attach itself too. Thankfully this doesn't immediately activate the new pod, it only groups the survivor with them, so you will have to activate the new expanded pod separately. I'm not going to say for certain, but anecdotal observation would suggest a pod that receives a fleeing member will begin to patrol more aggressively in your direction. It is usually a mixed blessing to have an enemy retreat from combat like this, typically if they stood and fought one lone alien wouldn't be able to do much and would be gunned down the following turn and now it is instead adding its strength to a new encounter you will have to face at full force plus the extra alien. Sometimes this can buy you time in a close fire fight and give you a turn or two to reload and apply medkits. It comes down to the individual situation most of the time and how you can best spend the momentary respite. Sectoids! Let's talk about what was the weakest enemy in the previous game. Twenty years of screwing around with their DNA and mixing in human DNA has lead to a larger more humanoid alien. The redesign is pretty powerful, sectoids are no longer mouthless skittering grey aliens that gave the feeling of an alien insect more than a person. Now they talk upright, have more facial features, viscous looking teeth, and are just all around much larger than before. Nearly twice as tall I'd say, though I'd need good art or comparative pictures to be sure. They are designed to look much more threatening now rather than 'tiny little gray that will probe you'. They're here as alien backbone to the ADVENT troopers. Well, if they really accomplish that feeling to the game player is debatable, but the art design of them really turns up the threat level of them. Sectoids can and can not be dangerous, it's situational and that is where I believe the difference in opinions between myself and Guava lie. Let's look at the three things you are likely to see a sectoid do. First off they have a Psi Reanimate, which a new twist on things. They will resurrect any fallen human/ADVENT soldier as a zombie. The zombies aren't very threatening, but they will shuffle around and punch your troops. I assume. I have yet to actually see a Psi Zombie accomplish anything. The AI will usually prioritize this action over the sectoids other two options as long as there is a viable body laying around for it to reanimate. Psi Reanimate is what Guava refers to as 'The Dumb Thing' that sectoids can do, and with fair reasoning. The zombies themselves are pretty weak and likely to go down in 1 hit with a crit because they don't take cover and don't have the natural crit mitigation bonuses that normal melee units have. Creating a Psi Zombie can be thought of the sectoid doing nothing on its turn as long as you kill the sectoid on the next turn because when the sectoid dies so does the zombie, sort of like mind merge in the first game. The second thing a sectoid can do is attempt to psionicly attack a soldier. Their ability is called Mind Spin and it can inflict various degrees of bad effects on you soldiers from disorienting them, to stunning them, to outright mind control. This is the ability I feel is the most threatening, though Guava disagrees. Mind control is super bad, and even more brutal early on in the game where breaking the control will be harder than later on. Lastly sectoids have a plasma pistol much as they did in the first game. The big catch here is that they have significantly higher aim than they previously had and are a credible threat to actually shooting your men. This is what Guava feels is their most dangerous action and it is possible for a full damage sectoid plasma shot to kill a 4HP rookie. Back to why I said they are dangerous situationaly; Alone they are not much to fear. A squad of 4 rookies can handle a lone sectoid pretty much no matter what. I feel that sectoids become more dangerous when they have other enemies around to screen them or stack the numbers a little. As I said by themselves no one is going to worry over a psi zombie or a mind spin. Get in a fire fight that is 5v5 or something like that and they can be a bigger problem. You may have to spend significant effort to kill a sectoid hiding in the back in full cover to kill it and a psi zombie while having less actions left over to deal with the rest of a situation. Perhaps it can't be said sectoids are dangerous in their own right, but they are a definite support hazard to watch out for. With a mind spin your 5v5 fire fight may be looking like 5v4 for the next turn, or 6v4 and then you're in a lot more danger than you were just a moment ago. It's situational and can depend on how easily and safely you can dedication a number of actions to dealing with a sectoid once it's start up its psi powers.
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Jul 19, 2016 05:25
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The drone can still use the medkit even before you unlock the skill that triples their usage. I know this because my hacker specialist can still teleheal people. e: At least I'm reasonably certain that's the case, now you've got me doubting myself. Kurieg fucked around with this message at 05:35 on Jul 19, 2016 |
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Jul 19, 2016 05:30
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Field medic is the skill that triples medkit usage. That is not the skill in question. Medical Protocol is the skill that allows drones to heal remotely. quote:The GREMLIN can perform healing actions remotely: GREMLIN Heal and GREMLIN Stabilize. The GREMLIN has a single charge. If a medkit is equipped, the GREMLIN will gain an additional charge.
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Jul 19, 2016 05:35
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Jade Star posted:Field medic is the skill that triples medkit usage. That is not the skill in question. Medical Protocol is the skill that allows drones to heal remotely. Also unless they fixed it the skills are mutually exclusive. You can have 3 Normal Medkit charges or 2 Medical Protocol's, with MP overwriting the ability to use Medkits Normally. Edit: Not Mutually Exclusive as in they are on the same tier , Mutually Exclusive in that if you have Medical protocol and take Field Medic, Field Medic will literally do nothing. MadHat fucked around with this message at 05:51 on Jul 19, 2016 |
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Jul 19, 2016 05:47
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Oh well. And Guava is right, the Core is amazingly bad science. They actually had a scientific consultant on staff and they usually ignored what he said and did what they wanted anyway. The one thing that he absolutely stood firm on was that the machine that was drilling down into the core of the earth absolutely could not have a windshield. Not sure how I'd rate it in comparison to Hackers, though. Hackers is bad computer science. The Core is bad everything. MadHat posted:Also unless they fixed it the skills are mutually exclusive. You can have 3 Normal Medkit charges or 2 Medical Protocol's, with MP overwriting the ability to use Medkits Normally. The bonus medkit charges compete with scanning protocol. Telepresence healing competes with the "Gremlin deals 6 damage to that guy right now no questions asked" skill.
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Jul 19, 2016 05:47
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Psi zombies really should get an action or two when they wake up. Though maybe that'd make Sectoids too dangerous for new players. Phantom is a good way to ruin perfectly good over-watch parties. And means you are not as good at HANZO STEEL as you otherwise could be.
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Jul 19, 2016 05:48
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I love phantom mainly because it just breaks the poo poo out of squadsight. And it also gives you a nice scout after you break concealment.
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Jul 19, 2016 05:53
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If you watch Hackers then 75% of 90s internet pop culture will become recognizable. That movie is our international anthem. You also get to see a young Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller, not Cumberbatch) make out with Angelina Jolie.
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Jul 19, 2016 05:53
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I was  for at least a week when I found out the hard way that XCOM 2 has the threat of mind-control right at the start of the game. It's fairly rare if you know the Sectoid's priorities in skill usage, but still, jesus. These ain't your granddaddy's Sectoids.Also yeah Phantom is stuuuupid good if you can manage the bit of extra book-keeping and strategizing it requires of you to make the most out of it.
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Jul 19, 2016 05:53
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Kurieg posted:And Guava is right, the Core is amazingly bad science. They actually had a scientific consultant on staff and they usually ignored what he said and did what they wanted anyway. The one thing that he absolutely stood firm on was that the machine that was drilling down into the core of the earth absolutely could not have a windshield. I heard the one thing he stood firm on was "no, the trip to the core can not take an hour. You can not go Mach 5 through rock, holy poo poo why do I have to explain this to you." So then things just got edited in a way to make it seem like the trip took only an hour.
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Jul 19, 2016 06:00
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tlarn posted:I was Yes but why pick Phantom when the alternative is Hattori Hanzo Plasma Axes. GuavaMoment posted:I heard the one thing he stood firm on was "no, the trip to the core can not take an hour. You can not go Mach 5 through rock, holy poo poo why do I have to explain this to you." So then things just got edited in a way to make it seem like the trip took only an hour. quote:In response to criticism of his screenplay's lack of scientific realism, screenwriter John Rogers responded that he tried to make the science accurate, but expended three years fighting "to get rid of the ... dinosaurs, magma-walks in 'space-suits', bullshit-sci-crap sources for the Earth's crisis, and a windshield for the ship Virgil."
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Jul 19, 2016 06:07
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GuavaMoment posted:I heard the one thing he stood firm on was "no, the trip to the core can not take an hour. You can not go Mach 5 through rock, holy poo poo why do I have to explain this to you." So then things just got edited in a way to make it seem like the trip took only an hour. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr7HNZg0ljU&t=91s At the very least, they seem to subtly acknowledge that all of the science is total bullshit. Note the (slightly cut off) "But... what if we could?" It seems like that's exactly what the writers were saying to that poor science consultant. Did the bugginess of Phantom ever get reduced? I remember several instances where I would break concealment upon moving, with no warning tiles or pathing icon to indicate that result. Additionally, it would be nice if there were some mod to let me turn on normal overwatch while phantom-concealed.
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Jul 19, 2016 06:14
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Phantom is arguably the best skill in the game. Having a scout is incredibly useful and being a man down in fights is well worth never activating a pod that you don't want to again. Also swords are garbage even if they are cool. I'm not sure why Firaxis decided to give them terrible damage and accuracy compared to Shotguns.
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Jul 19, 2016 06:28
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WrightOfWay posted:Phantom is arguably the best skill in the game. Having a scout is incredibly useful and being a man down in fights is well worth never activating a pod that you don't want to again. Also swords are garbage even if they are cool. I'm not sure why Firaxis decided to give them terrible damage and accuracy compared to Shotguns.
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Jul 19, 2016 06:34
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Swords have a special place in my preferred method of carrying out an ambush that looks suspiciously like a terrorist attack. A grenade bounces into the middle of an enemy formation and explodes before they realize what the hell's going on, gunfire rains down on them from all sides as they scatter for cover, then some rear end in a top hat with a blood-spattered machete runs in and disembowels the pod leader before they have a chance to organize a counterattack. I swear to god the Resistance in this game is composed of the sort of people who post Sectoid decapitation videos on youtube.
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Jul 19, 2016 06:40
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Pittsburgh Lambic posted:I swear to god the Resistance in this game is composed of the sort of people who post Sectoid decapitation videos on youtube. Link? Asking for a friend.
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Jul 19, 2016 06:43
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I thought Hackers was that old movie with Robert Redford but that was Sneakers. No more secrets!
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Jul 19, 2016 06:48
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WrightOfWay posted:Phantom is arguably the best skill in the game. Having a scout is incredibly useful and being a man down in fights is well worth never activating a pod that you don't want to again. Also swords are garbage even if they are cool. I'm not sure why Firaxis decided to give them terrible damage and accuracy compared to Shotguns. You have some valid reasoning here, and some seriously negative opinions on swords. The scouting idea is solid, but I'd personally not want to spend a mission a man down. I can see this easier on Veteran difficulty where you may need less actions per turn to deal with threats. And definitely only with a full 6 man squad. At no point are swords garbage though, ever. They are constantly an effective means of threat projection. Perhaps one of the biggest things that gets overlooked is that Run & Gun is not the starting skill for Rangers. The ability to make a full dash and still get to make an attack on a target is a big deal. It is a risk vs reward action as its not a guaranteed hit or damage spread like say, combat protocol, but it is also a skill that can be used every single turn (in comparison combat protocol is twice a map). Making use out of Slash Rangers is a fairly simple skill and very, very powerful and continues to be more powerful as you skill them farther. I am sure I will be able to demonstrate this during the LP as I level up a Ranger. Jade Star fucked around with this message at 07:38 on Jul 19, 2016 |
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Jul 19, 2016 07:08
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There is in fact a mod that lets you see what hacks are available and at what percentage chance before going through the gremlin animation: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=640402081 This mod also does a few other preview things though.
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Jul 19, 2016 07:24
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Ahhh actually Guava there IS a mod that shows you what things you can get from hacking, I have it.... But don't ask which one is doing it because I don't know. At a guess it's Gotcha (Flank Preview Evolved)
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Jul 19, 2016 07:37
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Lunethex posted:A mod does in fact exist that shows you what the hacks are and your chance just from the hack tooltip on the target. Tzarnal posted:There is in fact a mod that lets you see what hacks are available and at what percentage chance before going through the gremlin animation: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=640402081 Gridlocked posted:Ahhh actually Guava there IS a mod that shows you what things you can get from hacking, I have it.... I think we've covered that topic.
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Jul 19, 2016 07:41
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GuavaMoment posted:I need to preemptively post this in my defense: Not that I watched the movie myself but, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3CKgkyc7Qo Still came first. edit: Oh. I just thought of something. Did someone send in a Gabe Logan?
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