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Captain Foo posted:A couple days ago I skulljacked my first officer. In the middle of the second retaliation mission. I skulljacked my first officer in my third retaliation officer. I yelled at my screen for like ten minutes
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Aug 6, 2016 19:47
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| # ? May 20, 2024 19:04 |
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I skulljacked my first officer in the middle of a rough mission, had no biggie and won. 
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Aug 6, 2016 20:10
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That enemy is only really annoying if you don't know it's coming and time its appearance poorly.
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Aug 6, 2016 20:20
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I skulljacked the first pod I saw on a convoy raid before I had seen Vipers or anything like that. It...went badly. Not game over badly, but bad enough that I scrapped that run.
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Aug 6, 2016 20:22
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I remember my first skulljacking. It was a dark VIP mission.  happened
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Aug 6, 2016 20:25
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The solution to many of these problems is more flashbangs. Which makes some of the LW Perkpack stuff fun! EDIT : Although having started a fresh game at Commander difficulty I am realising that I suck horribly, so all my advice and ideas might be worthless. Tylana fucked around with this message at 21:45 on Aug 6, 2016 |
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Aug 6, 2016 21:36
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InfinityComplex posted:how many soldiers died none, I think
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Aug 6, 2016 23:40
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Slaan posted:I skulljacked my first officer in my third retaliation officer. XCOM2's campaign is hilarious because it has so many of these WTF moments. They're absolute rage-inducing ball-busters when you first experience them. Then a day/week/month or two later you hear about someone else running into that new, very intended bit of bullshit and start sniggering. "Oh, did you skulljack your first dude? Bet that was fun." You say, furiously biting your tongue to try not to reveal more.
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Aug 7, 2016 03:42
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Alkydere posted:XCOM2's campaign is hilarious because it has so many of these WTF moments. They're absolute rage-inducing ball-busters when you first experience them. Ahahaha. The mission that comes from what you do with the skulljack. That was the biggest WTF moment for me and I loved every minute of it.
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Aug 7, 2016 03:57
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Yea that moment when you skulljack... It definitely caught me by surprise. I almost lost the entire mission I was in as I had a time limit and was way behind on tech. I love how there are a few more bullshit WTF moments later on that can trip you up the first time you come across them..
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Aug 7, 2016 05:07
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Back in Enemy Unknown... Yeah, I built the hyperwave decoder long before I researched Firestorms. Almost lost my first game from the Councilman getting so pissy about my constantly failing to bring down the Overseer.
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Aug 7, 2016 05:16
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Godnnelg posted:Yea that moment when you skulljack... Come now, you're making this thread sound like some dark, dank recess of the internet. ... ah. Right. Carry on.
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Aug 7, 2016 06:27
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 Operation Lost Tower Part 1 As I mentioned this mission is going to be a long one, and I'd like to apologize for the delay i getting this posted. I had plans for the video that were sat on for 48 hours before being canceled. My original plan was to post this all at once but that has been scrapped because I feel I've delayed this update for too long already. Sorry about the wait, but I'll get this out piecemeal over the course of today and tomorrow. That all said, let's talk about some DLC! Shen's Last Gift is the second DLC put out, but we're tackling it first for reasons that will be obvious later, or by the end of the three part video. As one might expect when talking about Raymond Shen, this DLC focuses on his genius as a mechanical engineer. What originally looks like a signal that could only have come from Raymond Shen leads X-Com to an abandoned ADVENT tower. The set pieces, narrative, and especially the guest voice actor are all done very well. I'll not go into lengths about those sorts of things as I think they are best left to be seen for oneself. Instead lets talk about the mechanics of things. The only foe we face in this first video are a lot of MECs, but they are notably different then the ADVENT MECs we have and will continue to see in the normal game. Despite the initial voice lines about cutting through their armor, and how rusted and shoddy the MECs appear, they are actually more heavily armored than anything we've seen so far in the LP. They also can be more heavily armored than anything a player may have seen up until this point. Their 3 points of armor is a significant obstacle to get around early in the game. Options are limited when your soldiers are not very skilled and the duration of the mission means that using limited resources like grenades to shred armor every time is not a viable solution. One saving grace is that the derelict MECs is that they only have 3 HP, so once you get through the armor there isn't much left before they die. That isn't so hard with magnetic weapons, but it can be a real pain with ballistics as a three point damage mitigation can leave most ballistic weapons doing half or less of their normal damage values and requiring multiple attacks just to deal the three HP of damage needed. Another thing that can make the MECs in the tower less dangerous is their habit to prime a self destruct mechanism. While this sounds like a bad thing it uses up a MEC action that might be otherwise spent shooting a soldier. This delay usually gives a player more than enough time to ensure a kill shot on the MEC that is now a ticking time bomb. Lastly these derelict MECs have poor aim and damage compared to ADVENT MECs. The damage from their guns seems to be 2-4, making them less powerful than even X-Com's ballistic rifles. Of course these MECs need these flaws to make the mission fair as there are a unlimited amount of them and they will keep coming two per turn until they bury you. Of course we need to talk about Lily Shen too! Lily joins the mission and is a requirement to bring and to survive. She does not come in addition to the squad, but rather as a replacement. Meaning if you only have a five man squad size as I did in the video it's going to be Lily plus 4 soldiers of your choosing. Lily comes naturally as a specialist, her Rov-R gremlin being super upgraded over the normal soldiers gremlins. It's as powerful as a fully upgraded gremlin, and maybe even a little more, I can't quite recall how powerful combat protocol gets on a tier 3 drone. Rov-R is pretty much the power behind bringing Lily, as her own stats are pretty lacking. She has the aim score of a rookie and only a few more HP than a rookie too. However, Lily does have a ton of skills. Not only does she have the Colonel specialist skill Capacitor Discharge, but she also has multiple normally mutually exclusive skills. Lily has both combat protocol and medical protocol, as well as field medic and scanning protocol. Not only that, but most of the gremlin based skills that normally have a limited number of uses per battle are given infinite uses on a cool down time for Lily, making her the most powerful specialist in the game. Oh and as well as a 140 hacking score that lets her hack nearly everything in the mission with out fail. Nearly. There is still more to come as well, the tower has 3 sections to it broken up neatly by the elevators we have to escape up. I will try to bring you parts two and three either later tonight or tomorrow.
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Aug 8, 2016 00:24
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You never ever want to have Lily Shoot, she can be killing with Skills for 4 turns in a row with proper rotation before has has any downtime. It is entirely possible to do this Mission with ballistic's at even Legendary and it almost entirely comes down to Lily being a Anti-Robotic God. And Jade is correct the Mec/Drone Self-Destruct works differently for you than the AI uses it. A drone ends its turn with priming, the player can prime as a free action than use full movement to reach target for explosion. MadHat fucked around with this message at 00:56 on Aug 8, 2016 |
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Aug 8, 2016 00:45
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I started a new campaign because of this and I'm at roughly the same point Jade is doing this mission, but I have the next tier of armor rather than magnetic weapons. Would any of you say that the challenge of this mission would be similar by having magnetic weapons but kelvin armor or tier two armor and ballistic weapons?
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Aug 8, 2016 00:48
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SgtSteel91 posted:I started a new campaign because of this and I'm at roughly the same point Jade is doing this mission, but I have the next tier of armor rather than magnetic weapons. Would any of you say that the challenge of this mission would be similar by having magnetic weapons but kelvin armor or tier two armor and ballistic weapons? Offense in general is better than defense in this game.
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Aug 8, 2016 00:58
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You went with Powernap! That's awesome. I happened to check out your stream when I had a night off last week and saw you do this mission there, and it's quite a thing. I'm looking forward to seeing this run through, even if it won't be a surprise this time. Yeah the plot twist is obvious from the word go but it's a good bit and the reward is pretty cool. Shame you can't use Lily's broken abilities outside this mission, but that said, apparently being relentlessly overpowered still doesn't enable you to hack literally anything you like. Didn't you say she had like 140 hack skill? With that they needn't give her a gun, or even an Aim stat. What was up with that random damage, though? Was it a shot that the game didn't bother to animate for, or something?
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Aug 8, 2016 01:19
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TheDarkFlame posted:What was up with that random damage, though? Was it a shot that the game didn't bother to animate for, or something? I think that random damage actually happened to me as well when I went through that mission.
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Aug 8, 2016 01:26
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TheDarkFlame posted:What was up with that random damage, though? Was it a shot that the game didn't bother to animate for, or something? Pretty much. Jade could kinda-sorta see the enemy that shot at him, but not really so the game didn't bother animating it.
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Aug 8, 2016 01:27
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It looked like that MEC somehow made a shot from out of line-of-sight, which caused the game to freak out a bit. e:f,b
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Aug 8, 2016 01:27
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That conga line of missed Overwatches was beautifully hilarious. Lily botching the hack was just the cherry on top of the sundae the game decided to give you.
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Aug 8, 2016 01:36
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Operation Lost Tower Part 2 Moving on up the tower we come to a floor containing a very special room. A room full of secrets of the past... Well sort of. We find a SPARK, a robotic fighting machine that is not all totally a MEC from the first game except entirely mechanical and doesn't requite the quad-amputation of a soldier. Along with that discovery also comes the idea that the ADVENT MECs are based largely off the captured work of Raymond Shen. And even still more, that Raymond Shen's engineering genius may be more advanced than that of the aliens. His designs may have only been possible with alien technology, but there in the tower stands a prototype that has been sitting for possibly decades, and yet it is still more powerful than any ADVENT MEC produced to date. It would seem even the aliens could not rival Raymond Shen's engineering ability. I always feel a little touched by Raymond's last words to Lily. I'm not a father, but there is something truly moving about facing your imminent demise and only having thoughts of creating something to protect your child, and not thinking of yourself. And then Guava and I yell at each other for the next ten minutes about Bulwark. We'll cover that when we get back to base and actually level the SPARK up. It should go with out saying that SPARKs are a lot like MECs of the first game. They are heavy, high HP and armor soldiers that suffer a little bit in terms of Aim score and perhaps situational flexibility. They are a hammer, a big loving sledge hammer with which to smash into the enemy. SPARKs intrinsically get the shredder ability, making them good as anti-armor, come with a BIT that functions like a gremlin with the addition of the BIT being able to carry a heavy weapon. The BIT can also remote hack objects/lamps like a gremlin, except I've never seen my SPARKs with a particularly good hacking score so they're use in that regard is very limited. Along with all the things we come to expect like SPARKs not using cover, are maybe a few more surprising things such as their vertical mobility. In the first game a MEC needed a skill to gain the ability to scale any vertical wall. Here that ability is built into them and from the start you can have your SPARKs jumping on top of buildings to control high ground that might otherwise prove difficult to put a soldier onto. SPARKs will not be getting additional weapondry like the first game where upgrades were installed as the chassis improved. SPARKs follow the normal rules of promotions, gaining exp and making a choice down the two skill trees which in turn will open up new abilities that might have otherwise been equipment upgrades. The BIT is also customization in what heavy weapon it carries and need not always bring the default rocket to launch. The best ways to utilize a SPARK trooper is up for some debate, as Guava and I have differing opinions on the subject and will continue to convey such thoughts in polite and elegant discourse in the future videos, as we have done in this video. The short of it may be summed up as a defensive philosophy versus an aggressive philosophy, with skills on either side tailored to allowing the SPARK to either be a shield to keep your soldiers safe, draw fire, and withstand attacks, or to be turned into a hammer to smash against the enemy lines, break their cover, and punch them in the face, literally.
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Aug 8, 2016 02:49
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So, should we have a Jadestream movie night featuring The Core? e: And yes, I also got some warm fuzzies in that Shen's Last Gift is not the Spark or any other bit of technology, but instead his daughter. Aww. Zomborgon fucked around with this message at 02:57 on Aug 8, 2016 |
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Aug 8, 2016 02:51
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Julian was really stupid in how he approached matters. Be friendly, have Lilly transfer the mind, THEN deploy the killbots.
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Aug 8, 2016 03:04
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So how exactly is Bulwark different than the poo poo that is All for One from Within? It sounds like it does basically the same thing of making your mech high cover that everybody else in the world, including the enemies, can use? Yet both Jade and Guava hated that poo poo. Or is it because it isn't a fake choice this time around and the other ability is good too?
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Aug 8, 2016 04:26
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HOOLY BOOLY posted:So how exactly is Bulwark different than the poo poo that is All for One from Within? It sounds like it does basically the same thing of making your mech high cover that everybody else in the world, including the enemies, can use? Yet both Jade and Guava hated that poo poo. Or is it because it isn't a fake choice this time around and the other ability is good too? It's automatic this time, doesn't need a thing to activate now.
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Aug 8, 2016 04:38
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Bulwark adds +1 armor which is really good (besides being a high cover element for your troops). This also synergizes well with the Spark because you get more armor from abilities and tech upgrades later in the game (up to 6), this can make the spark insanely tanky. The other option removes the cumulative aim penalty that using overdrive gives you. Overdrive gives you three actions while not costing an action to use, so you can get three shots off or more realistically move and shoot twice or move shoot then grenade. To some extent it comes down to play style, but I find on legendary if you aren't wiping out single pods without taking enemy fire you are already kind of screwed, so defensive abilities are kind of worse than offensive ones. Also to get the most tankiness out of the Spark you have to sacrifice the highest aoe damage dealing ability in the game that is potentially very important with the DLC content. Guava is totally right about pistols btw...
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Aug 8, 2016 04:59
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I meant to ask (mission spoilers, psychic question) if you delay this mission until you have a psychic with the "no fire / poison etc." power, does the psychic get to just walk through that second room?
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Aug 8, 2016 05:01
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Bruceski posted:Julian was really stupid in how he approached matters. Be friendly, have Lilly transfer the mind, THEN deploy the killbots. Yeah, this doesn't make any sense. If Julian needs Lily so badly, why is he deploying a bunch of robots with orders to shoot her? Also something which I hadn't noticed until just now is that there are no SHIVs or equivalent in this game. There's the Sparks, sure, but those are DLC, and they also gain experience. Were SHIVs shelved for shittiness? As I recall, they were expensive in the first game, and by the time you could reliably afford them, they couldn't keep up with actual trained soldiers.
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Aug 8, 2016 05:18
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MechaCrash posted:Yeah, this doesn't make any sense. If Julian needs Lily so badly, why is he deploying a bunch of robots with orders to shoot her? Late game shivs were quite useful due to all having plasma cannons and the ability to fly. Fielding a full squad of them was great as you could just laugh at concepts such as cover or self preservation.
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Aug 8, 2016 05:24
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It's because he was jealous of her getting all the love and attention instead of him! I mean he is a cold,calculating machine, but he still needs love too! 
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Aug 8, 2016 05:34
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Using your Spark for cover is just asking to be AoE'd, Jade! If Julian's been stuck in this factory, how did he hack Rovr? Whatever he did, why not use that to escape to the internet? It's no physical body, sure, but it beats being stuck there forever.
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Aug 8, 2016 05:46
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I love how Guava gets so salty about Bulwark. Normally I would agree, more offense is better than more defense in the game. Most missions really don't last long enough to use Overdrive more than 1 or 2 times a mission, and even then I'd rather use the extra move to increase the Spark's accuracy by having a free action to use the Bit's heavy weapon to remove cover. Meanwhile Bulwark is buffed with armor tiers and higher level armor gives Sparks, especially Bulwark Sparks, absurd amounts of armor and therefore damage reduction. This is doubly important because of the heal/repair mechanic between missions with Sparks and how you can only repair one at a time. Also as fun as punching is, if you get a good Shredder Gun for your spark the other skill becomes hilarious attractive as the increased AOE affects ALL heavy weapons. And a Shredder Gun with bonus AOE is goddamned hilarious. And yes, the mission is hilariously rough when you do it with just ballistics. The first time I played this mission the DLC had just come out and I had no idea what it involved. So I went in with a squad size of 4, ballistics, and my Ranger had a Long War SMG equipped which basically made him worthless against the armor. I made it out without losing anyone (because ROV-R is a beast of a Gremlin) but it's not something I recommend. Alkydere fucked around with this message at 05:56 on Aug 8, 2016 |
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Aug 8, 2016 05:52
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Julian's little hissy fit reminded me a lot of the Riddler from the Arkham games
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Aug 8, 2016 06:41
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So, why do rusty obsolete MECs have more armour than the latest technology? It makes no sense at all. One thing I do like about these MECs is the self-destruct feature. There's a slight problem with hacking (and mind control, spoiler spoiler) - if the controlled enemy survives until the controlling effect runs out, it immediately starts shooing at you. But these MECs have a safe disposal mechanism built in. It's possible to cheese this mission if you wait a bit and go in with some good tech. A gunslinger with bluescreen ammo will utterly trivialize everything except the final boss, for example. But do you really want to wait? The reward is most useful in the early game. I hear a lot of whining about overdrive and bulwark. I prefer to whine about aid protocol, which I din't think Jade used at all. Shen has threat assessment, which is one of the best skills in the game under normal circumstances. It's especially useful in this mission, where a free overwatch shot really helps a reduced-sized team gun down the endless robot hordes.
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Aug 8, 2016 08:23
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zyxophoj posted:So, why do rusty obsolete MECs have more armour than the latest technology? The thick layer of rust acts as an ablative layer
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Aug 8, 2016 08:50
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zyxophoj posted:So, why do rusty obsolete MECs have more armour than the latest technology? Budget cuts at ADVENT. You think AVATAR pays for itself?
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Aug 8, 2016 08:58
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I love it when Jade and Guava yell at each other for dumb things.
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Aug 8, 2016 11:06
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Ever since ADVENT switched their design outsourcing to Apple, things got faster and lighter. The latter applied to the armour, obviously.
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Aug 8, 2016 11:29
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In a legendary difficulty LP I watched, overdrive is used to either move->rocket->shoot, or to punch people, or a mix of these. Bulwark is used to pretty great effect in places with no good cover, and splash damage isn't much of a problem because any potential source of it gets terminated with extreme prejudice.
my dad fucked around with this message at 11:46 on Aug 8, 2016 |
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Aug 8, 2016 11:40
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