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I found Red Dawn annoying later on with their Sniper/Spotters, but they do get you some solid, fundamental tech.
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Nov 20, 2022 21:28
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For the record we aren't going to ignore the rest of the cults, this is more of just like. Who do we go after first assuming we have the means to do so. If I somehow can't catch one of the higher-tier Church of Dagon members but have the leader of EXALT sitting in a prison cell we might end up pursuing them instead. Also, each Cult has at least one enemy unit that you see and immediately you shudder in fear and wonder if your crew can make it out alive. It's just that I think the Chuch of Dagon's most terrifying enemy is the kind that might kill an individual unit. While the elite Red Dawn and EXALT units might be armed with the kind of weapon that kills multiple people. The Black Lotus doesn't have the same multi-kill potential but they have some unique benefits
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Nov 20, 2022 22:30
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So I decided to give openXCOM and this mod a try. First mission: Spikeboar. Second mission: A half dozen zombies. Third mission: Crazy farmer with shotgun and surprisingly good aim. I'm going to need more dudes. For those who haven't encountered one yet, you lucky bastards, a spikeboar is a 2x2 enemy that resembles a dire boar with spiked ridges, and it can throw its spikes pretty accurately and pretty drat far, and one hit will end an unarmored dude. kaosdrachen fucked around with this message at 10:02 on Nov 21, 2022 |
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Nov 21, 2022 10:00
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I should get back to the World of Terrifying Silence mod, but I'm constantly shamed by my lack of skill.
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Nov 21, 2022 10:04
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By popular demand posted:I should get back to the World of Terrifying Silence mod, but I'm constantly shamed by my lack of skill. Don't be, that mod is meant for people that think ordinary TFTD is too easy.
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Nov 21, 2022 10:50
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When it comes to X-COM, especially the old UFO Defense, Terror From The Deep, and Apocalypse. Feel no shame in save scumming. I feel like that counts double for most mods because mods like to turn up the heat a few degrees further. Incidentally, I am restraining myself on the save scumming and I won't rewind for every death or imperfect mission. But if the entire away team gets killed by someone with a rocket launcher I reserve the right to go back and change fatekaosdrachen posted:So I decided to give openXCOM and this mod a try. That's a pretty rough opening set of missions honestly. I highly suggest that anyone playing X-COM Files think very carefully about what they want their opening set of research to be. There's basically, weapons, armor, and research options. Also make sure you buy more equipment for your cars, your starting set sucks. There is no shame in retreating from a mission that's too difficult. In fact the game expects you to do it. I got a very good score on January in the LP despite fleeing from both Mongorn missions Also fun fact about the missions against farmers. If you take too long to catch them, around turn 10 you'll be attacked by... Ahem. "Guests" who are super deadly unlike the farmers glwgameplayer fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Nov 21, 2022 |
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Nov 21, 2022 15:25
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glwgameplayer posted:When it comes to X-COM, especially the old UFO Defense, Terror From The Deep, and Apocalypse. Feel no shame in save scumming. I feel like that counts double for most mods because mods like to turn up the heat a few degrees further. Incidentally, I am restraining myself on the save scumming and I won't rewind for every death or imperfect mission. But if the entire away team gets killed by someone with a rocket launcher I reserve the right to go back and change fate Oh, I made it through with a couple of strategic withdrawals and I'm mostly running a net positive now, but I'm having trouble figuring out which set of research goals unlocks the "get an intel department and laboratories" bit.
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Nov 21, 2022 19:18
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kaosdrachen posted:Oh, I made it through with a couple of strategic withdrawals and I'm mostly running a net positive now, but I'm having trouble figuring out which set of research goals unlocks the "get an intel department and laboratories" bit. For a Bio Lab you have to research Medicine, Advanced Medicine, and then the Bio lab itself. All of these are unlocked in sequence after the Medical Officer joins you. For an Intel Center, you need to capture one member of each cult, interrogate them, and lean the basic outline of their cult. Also, you need to have Basic Operations researched. For what it's worth, the X-COM HQ unlocks both kinds of research and provides 5 scientist slots. But don't go around building extra HQs. They're too pricy for that
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Nov 21, 2022 20:00
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Looking at the list of items available for research, one of these is not like the others:  XCOM dogs seems like the only one that would be an actual research topic, for things like training. The other two seem like they're just padding out the list with things that will take a few hours. How long does it really take to aquire crowbars?
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Nov 21, 2022 22:19
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That's the bit I always mod out of my games, I just can't stand that you have to waste precious research time for completely mundane and common items. It also makes zero sense from a game mechanics perspective, steel club technology is probably not how this war would be won.
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Nov 21, 2022 22:32
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we had to research a list of local hardware stores that stock crowbars. This task took many days to compile. The answer was all of them.
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Nov 21, 2022 22:43
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Oh, it's padding for sure, but there is an actual explanation given as to why you have to research everything to acquire it: you're just filling out the paperwork because you're working in an astoundingly legalistic organization.
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Nov 21, 2022 22:46
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Also each research finished is a small amount of points so that's useful if you've had a bit of a bad month to compensate.
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Nov 21, 2022 23:16
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Yeah on the subject of researching low level human tech. It is definitely annoying to have to send your scientists to find out where to buy stuff like crowbars and clubs. As stated above it is a source of a few points, so it can be helpful. Also, they average 1-2 scientist days in the lower tiers. So if you just set a scientist each on stuff like crowbars, knives, and handguns you'll probably end up getting all of them done in a day, two at the most. And then you can decide if you want to go the extra day and add it to your store or not. Definitely busy work, but they've done all they can to make it quick and easy for us
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Nov 22, 2022 00:06
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glwgameplayer posted:Yeah on the subject of researching low level human tech. It is definitely annoying to have to send your scientists to find out where to buy stuff like crowbars and clubs. As stated above it is a source of a few points, so it can be helpful. Also, they average 1-2 scientist days in the lower tiers. So if you just set a scientist each on stuff like crowbars, knives, and handguns you'll probably end up getting all of them done in a day, two at the most. And then you can decide if you want to go the extra day and add it to your store or not.  "Hey, fellow kids, you wouldn't happen to know where I could score some totally bodacious firearms, or at least a crowbar, would you?""drat it Jimmy, just tell the weirdo where the dealer is already, guy's freakin' me out!" Edit? What edit? Gilgamesh255 fucked around with this message at 00:22 on Nov 22, 2022 |
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Nov 22, 2022 00:20
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Good news guys, now that we're out of the absolute beginning of the game we can start getting into more... interesting territory -Evil Laughter-
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Nov 22, 2022 05:12
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"Mr. Government Official, how should we arm our anti-alien secret service?" "Eh, just modify some farm tools into flamethrowers and poo poo."
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Nov 22, 2022 05:14
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LJN92 posted:"Mr. Government Official, how should we arm our anti-alien secret service?" You have no idea how accurate that is. The thing about X-COM Files is that it's secretly a prequel to the original X-COM UFO Defense. So, we're starting at tier 0 with stuff your average joe can buy if he knows where to look. Eventually, we'll crawl our way to military-grade tech (Tiers 2 and 3.) But right now... Right now this is what we've got. This is the closest to a heavy weapon we have Also, the first time around I didn't even use the Industrial Flamer but it's surprisingly good. I didn't realize what firing pattern it used, saw the accuracy, and immediately decided to never use it.
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Nov 22, 2022 05:19
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The amount of farm maps I played on the late 90's that this would have been amazing in... Do you also get gas masks to protect against the smoke?
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Nov 22, 2022 05:27
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If we're going to use Flamethrowers, you might want to bring at least one fire extinguisher.
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Nov 22, 2022 07:47
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glwgameplayer posted:Good news guys, now that we're out of the absolute beginning of the game we can start getting into more... interesting territory Neat! ...er... who's going to use it? I don't think we have anyone inclined to using heavy weapons on our squad
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Nov 22, 2022 07:51
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Well, perhaps Crazy Achmed's cousin Surprisingly Reasonable Achmed could join as a heavy weapons dude
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Nov 22, 2022 07:56
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Can I bring one on an undercover mission? "I'm... a pest exterminator. We're very thorough."
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Nov 22, 2022 08:31
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The Lone Badger posted:Can I bring one on an undercover mission? I dont think Agri Flamers have the {Concealable} tag, so probably not. However, you can totally do on-site procurement of weapons in undercover missions.
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Nov 22, 2022 09:26
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The Lone Badger posted:Can I bring one on an undercover mission? "There was a spider." "... Okay, fair."
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Nov 22, 2022 09:33
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Other options: of course I need it, no better way to sear a whole cow before braising it. I mean have you seen that escaped prisoner? He's like 2.5 meters and has a skin like tree bark. I'll have you know that my yacht needs daily coatings of melted shellac. hello, chemistry teacher.
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Nov 22, 2022 09:45
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Gilgamesh255 posted:Neat! Nick Danger lives snd dies for this sort of thing.
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Nov 22, 2022 12:18
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Also, to be honest, I've been struggling a bit with remembering who has what weapon of choice. But I think I've got it figured out. I'm just going to tag a class in front of everyone's name so I remember their role Handy Class Key HVY= Heavy Weapons SNP= Sniper SHT= Shotgun SMG=SMG MED= Medic HAND= Handguns GREN= Grenadier NIN= Ninja
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Nov 22, 2022 16:32
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"Dude, why do you have a makeshift flamethrower? You're a sniper!" "Bro, are you implying I can't snipe with a flamethrower?" "I--dude, what? You can't --- you can't just snipe with a flamethrower!" "Hold my beer, bro."
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Nov 22, 2022 16:56
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Eh, what the hey, hopefully the body count won't get high enough that I'll make the roster, but Randalor the medic reporting for duty. Okay, let's be honest, I'm far enough down the roster that if I make it in, you're DIRE need of medics.
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Nov 22, 2022 17:40
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Just be aware that this flamer is a very short ranged weapon, it's range is about the same as our taser pistols.
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Nov 22, 2022 17:45
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Did they add a morale damage to that? because flamethrowers are loving terrifying.
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Nov 22, 2022 17:52
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By popular demand posted:Did they add a morale damage to that? because flamethrowers are loving terrifying. Yes, one hit with a flamer will likely zero-out the victim's morale.
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Nov 22, 2022 17:53
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The Flamer doesn't deal as much direct damage as you think. It usually won't be a one-hit kill if you hit an enemy. but any enemy who's set on fire is going to be running around, on fire, with minimum morale and a DOT effect. Also, it can be used to burn down terrain that's getting in your way, or make a defensive firewall against a melee enemy. It's pretty neat but not universally useful.
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Nov 22, 2022 18:18
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File 4: Growing Larger Sunny’s Log: 1st of March to April 1st The first thing we got started on in March was medical research, something the Medical Officer has been demanding the commander do since X-COM was formed. We’ll most likely be able to get all the paperwork done before the Information Center goes online but it isn’t going to be quick.  For our missions this month, we had a mix of important and routine missions, I’ve decided that the routine missions will be skipped over, I’ll just tell you there was a mission and what kind. And we’ll move on. As such, the first two cases this month were suspect investigations and neither one turned up anything particularly interesting. But after that we had a Strange creature, case and that one was interesting. And dangerous  Sunny: I see lots of movement all over town already. They’re… Spiders?  The Lone Badger: That’s a huge spider! Looks big enough to eat a dog. Have they just taken over the town? Sunny: There’s enough of them that they might have.  The Lone Badger: Alright I got one! Just took 3 bullets… We’re not going to be able to get them all are we Sunny. Sunny:.. If any of them get too close we just jump back into the car. We stood by the car for a bit, shooting any spiders that were close enough for our shots to land. We managed to kill a few of them but…  The Lone Badger: This one is even tougher than the others! My bullets keep bouncing off! Sunny: It’s too close Badger. We should leave while we still can.  I was a little dejected after this loss. We managed to get run out of town by spiders of all things. But the commander praised my decision. Told me that our survival was more important than solving every single case. It made me feel better. Although I didn’t know at the time that our very next mission would go much of the same way  Dak Thornson:That’s a lot of scorpions! Nick Danger: There’s too many of them, it’s dark out here and they have black shells. We should get the heck out of here! Dak Thornson: The next time I see a scorpion it’s going down!  At the very least this case took out in the desert mostly away from people. No one died or went missing, though it’s a shame we failed to kill them all  It was around this time that the Medical Officer completed her early project and got us access to some better medicine. She also seemed oddly… I don’t know how to put it… She sounded a bit mad scienc-y to me. Talking about making us agents above normal men… Though I can’t lie being a bit stronger would be a big help dealing with all these monsters.  This was a crop circle mission and we found something interesting. For lack of a better term we’ve named these creatures zombies. They’re… well they seem to be creatures with no sense of self preservation who angrily charge towards any human they sense and attempt to… turn them? We’re currently taking bets on if it’s a parasite, fungus, disease, or something else. We don’t know what is causing this to happen but we know roughly what it does to people. The next mission brought us back to an old enemy of ours  Dak Thornson: Oh so you’ve come back for a rematch have you? Last time we had to flee with our tails between our legs because we couldn’t find your buddy. But this time, you’re coming with us!  Luckily the “Reaper” is too big to walk on the thinner chunks of ice. As long as our agents stayed on the other side of the ice there was no way for the reaper to reach them. Dak and Nick Danger just stayed out of reach and peppered it with plenty of bullets. When he found the second one he did the same. One died, but the other just passed out, and when our clean up crew came in they managed to save it. We have a live reaper awaiting study. The next mission Dak went on didn’t go so well. It was a horde of Mongorns in the north. There were too many of them and he only managed to kill one before the two of them had to flee. I’m sad to say the same happened to me on our next mission, but this time it was against a creature we’ve designated as a “Shambler”  All we know is that’s it’s a big, shaggy white creature, the kind of think people might call a Yeti. To counteract all that bad news though, we have some good news. The Medical Officer got us some new stuff, Healing Spray  It’s good for patching yourself up, all out other medkits only work if someone else is working on you. We have to buy it unfortunately, but it can be very useful. The next mission was another one of Dak and Nick’s. And they found something special again  Dak Thornson: It looks like some kinda… human like creature? Nick Danger: It’s not human obviously but it walks like one? Oh crap it’s fast! The Werecat, as we designated it later, managed to run Nick’s side of the car and give him a nasty slash wound, but before it could attack again  Dak Thornson: Got em! Are you alright? Nick Danger: I’ll be fine. Danger’s my middle name after all. Dak Thornson: Thought it was your last name… There was another Werecat on sight, but it was far away enough that they took it down from long range. The Werecat is awaiting study The next mission was mine and Badger’s. It was a long one but to summarize  There were a metric fuckton of scorpions in this desert. And it took every clip of ammo we had. But Badger and I managed to clear them.  (This mission took about 15 IRL minutes by the way) ALL OF THEM  When we came back home everyone was clapping us on the back and offering to buy us drinks. Commander even had a little ceremony where he gave us both some medals. It was nice. After that we had some more routine missions, but on the 29th we finished getting together all the stuff we needed for a Bio Lab and got started on constructing that.  The funding nations were praising us and giving us a big boost in funding. By this point we were proving that we were effective, and with our Intelligence Center finished and our Bio Lab in the works the commander announced we were getting ready for a… promotion of sorts. The Commader told us all to take April 1st off and celebrate.  Technically this happened a day later, but the Quartermaster pulled us aside while we were still celebrating and told us the good news. Starting now we’ll be able to get all those weapons we couldn’t before. Magnums, Shotguns, and other weapons that our higher ups were initially resistant to allowing us to access  Personally I’ve got my eyes on a magnum, but I’m sure our shotgun lovers are looking forward to getting a larger, more powerful one. And I’m sure some pyromaniac out there is excited about the flamer.  Even though the agents have time off our support staff is going all out to make sure we can get our hands on what we need, and starting to dig into some of the mysteries we haven’t been able to get at yet, since we’ve been so busy shoring up our capabilities first. So far April is shaping up to be a good month This is Captain Sunny, Signing off. *End Recording* (LPer Notes:) This could have gone a lot worse. Honestly this month everything was coming up Aces and it felt great. It helps that we’re a bit ahead of the curve when it comes to research. Now that we’ve got a bunch of the basics down we can start researching into the new cool stuff. Flamers, Magnums, and other flavors of cool new weapons that are better than our old ones Also that mission with the scorpions in the desert. Holy crap that took forever. That’s the second-biggest mission I’ve ever done in this game. And surprisingly, it made me reconsider my stance on the Glock. True, the Glock doesn’t hit as hard as other pistols and its accuracy and range are a little lower. But in this instance, in close-range combat with enemies with low HP, the Glock was king. Plus its large clips made it easier to keep firing. I ran out of shots with my Colt after like, 8 scorpions but I still had two Glock clips left at the end of the fight. Also, I got to pull off some neat tricks. The square that your first agent starts in has all your leftover equipment in it, so whenever Sunny’s partner ran out of ammo I would scoop up a clip and toss it to him. In terms of TUs it’s less efficient than just having a bunch already on your person. But in a pinch, it can be very helpful Also now that we’ve almost finished all the early game tier 1 tech. We’re working our way toward the good stuff now. Gameplay Corner  Medals and awards are something you might have seen a few times by now, and they’re a nice addition to Files. Dak is currently the most medal bedazzled member of our crew. Basically, you can increase your soldiers stats beyond the norm by completing certain objectives with them. The best way I can think to split them up is this, there are 3 kinds of medals. Personal, weapon, and mission medals.  Personal medals are accolades given on a per-agent basis for personal achievements. For example, Elite is given when an agent’s stats go up by a certain degree, while Stone Cold Killer requires killing two enemies in one turn and Battle-Scarred requires taking a lot of damage in a mission and surviving. What exactly these medals give you varies quite a bit, but they mostly target an agent’s core stats like health, TU, and Stamina.  Weapon medals a subcategory of personal medals focused around racking up a certain number of kills with a particular class of weapon. Gunslinger for pistols, sniper for long rifles, shotgun surgeon for shotguns, you get the picture. These medals always increase the accuracy stat related to the weapon as well as two other stats related to the weapon in question. For example, Shotgun Surgeon raises firing accuracy, reactions, and TUs since someone with a shotgun needs to get in close, and may need a snap reaction at that range.  Mission medals are given to every agent on the mission provided the conditions are met. Survivor and Cavalier are two mission medals, diametrically opposed ones even. There’s also a medal for completing undercover work, and a medal for doing missions at night which grants night vision. There isn’t really a way to try to earn mission medals. You just play as well as you can and either get them or you don’t. Overall I like this system a lot, it encourages you to build agents to their strengths and earn bonuses to make them better and better at their chosen role. It also makes rookies even worse by comparison
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Nov 22, 2022 18:37
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The best thing about them is that they're also ignored by stat caps, I think.
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Nov 22, 2022 18:59
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i'd like to submit bios the SMG user to the roster waitlist!
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Nov 22, 2022 19:02
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I think they do ignore stat caps. Also in case, anyone was wondering. Dak is currently our best agent in basically every way. His only competition is Sunny and Sam. That said, all of the initial 12 are pretty good agents. Sunny is another good contender but he spent like, 3 weeks in the hospital while Dak was still active so...
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Nov 22, 2022 19:09
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I've actually already got the next post done but. I probably should pace myself at some point. If I kept with the usual schedule this would be uploaded on Thanksgiving so instead of doing that, Friday sounds good.
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Nov 22, 2022 22:16
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| # ? Jun 2, 2024 19:15 |
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BTW, what's with the weird green overlay on some missions? At first I thought it was just a tileset, but it even affects the car you arrived in. You mentioned 'green goo' in one of the reports, but us that actually the explanation, or was it just an offhand joke? Also, since people were commenting that we don't have a Heavy Weapons trooper yet, just a reminder: I volunteered as one back on page 1.
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Nov 22, 2022 23:49
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