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macdjord posted: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? Night Vision mode, which makes it easier for the player to see terrain in night missions, but has no effect on our agents or our enemies.
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Nov 23, 2022 00:33
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macdjord posted: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? Oh sorry I should have explained that sooner. Normally you can press Space to turn on night vision mode, and in night missions you really should do that since it's otherwise incredibly dark. Open X-COM also has a way to just turn it on forever if the mission is dark enough. And I turned that on so now all night missions are in Nightvision mode
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Nov 23, 2022 00:43
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Do note that all our units have an small light on them automatically, it's possible to turn it off so it's a lot harder to see them in the darkness but this only really works against normal humans that have the same night vision as our units.
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Nov 23, 2022 01:46
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Yeah the way openxcom renders night missions tends to make them way, way too dark to actually play. Night vision makes them playable while allowing you to switch to what your units can actually see at the push of a button.
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Nov 23, 2022 03:09
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Dak thinks we should tame the bullfrogs to hunt the spiders and scorpions. Surely this will work out!
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Nov 23, 2022 03:21
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Medals giving stats is kinda a mixed bag for me, on the one hand it's cool to see your veteran agents getting boosts for things like killing two enemies in a turn. On the other hand, it means that getting a new rookie up to the level of the veteran you just lost in the late game will take a huge amount of grinding above and beyond what normal X-Com stat growth demands. And a lot of the medals are simple but boring to grind, so if you have terminal optimisation brain like me you can burn yourself out of a playthrough grinding things like the reaction medal. Also medals were already a thing before they gave stats, just as a neat list of your soldiers achievements, but after they started giving stats the requirements for the higher ranks were increased 10-100x for most medals. So rather than being unique identifiers for each soldier you end up with every soldier having 3-5 ranks in most medals which is kinda boring. There are also some oversights with the medal system that are annoying once you realise how they work, so I'll spoiler them if you want to remain blissfully ignorant 1. The weapon medals only count the weapon with the highest number of kills in a class, not the total of all weapons in the class, so they're basically the same as the "master of x weapon" and unless you intentionally keep using a low-tech weapon from the start of the game you're never going to see a high rank of them. 2. Speaking of "master of weapon" and "bane of enemy" achievements, they stack but only if they're different ranks, so a soldier who is a rank 3 master of 3 weapons will have lower bonuses than a soldier who has a rank 1, 2, and 3 medal for those weapons. Same goes for the "bane of enemy" medals.
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Nov 23, 2022 04:16
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Dire Lemming posted:Medals giving stats is kinda a mixed bag for me, on the one hand it's cool to see your veteran agents getting boosts for things like killing two enemies in a turn. On the other hand, it means that getting a new rookie up to the level of the veteran you just lost in the late game will take a huge amount of grinding above and beyond what normal X-Com stat growth demands. And a lot of the medals are simple but boring to grind, so if you have terminal optimisation brain like me you can burn yourself out of a playthrough grinding things like the reaction medal. Also medals were already a thing before they gave stats, just as a neat list of your soldiers achievements, but after they started giving stats the requirements for the higher ranks were increased 10-100x for most medals. So rather than being unique identifiers for each soldier you end up with every soldier having 3-5 ranks in most medals which is kinda boring. At least there's more ways to gain stats than just medals although those aren't here yet.
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Nov 23, 2022 07:16
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If you’re still looking for fresh meat for the grinder, here’s my dude: Arthur “Rooster” Glass, SHT
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Nov 23, 2022 07:21
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Just caught up. Haven't heard of this mod before. Enjoying the LP. Willing to throw myself into the fire too in whatever role is open. Brooklyn "Snugglecakes" Baker
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Nov 23, 2022 14:06
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Just in case that someone is unaware: OpenXcom is available for Android and iOS so you can enjoy watching humanity's last hope get annihilated by your choices on your tablet while you take a flight or are recovering from a leg injury.
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Nov 23, 2022 14:26
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i wanna shot bads Agent Verbal who uses SMGs (preferably an UZI forever so i can be this dude) 
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Nov 23, 2022 23:05
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Just got done recording another session and. God, what a disaster. Some of it was just "That's X-COM!" luck hitting me, like missing 4 50% accurate shots in a row. Some of it was my own stupid decisions leading me into a frankly terrible situation. I know that I've done plenty of night missions in the LP but, you guys should really do your best to avoid them if you can. The only benefit to night missions is that people who go on enough of them develop minor darkvision. Also somehow no Church of Dagon missions spawned, so I was tangling with the rest of the cults mostly. For this next stage we actually have to research all of them anyway because finding all of them is one of the requirements to get our second promotion. But it's still a little annoying that Dagon is hiding from us
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Nov 24, 2022 00:09
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glwgameplayer posted:Some of it was just "That's X-COM!" luck hitting me, like missing 4 50% accurate shots in a row.  Really, it wouldn't have been a true X-COM LP if you didn't get a bunch of units wiped out every once and a while.
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Nov 24, 2022 00:37
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The funny thing is so far it hasn't even been the deadly kind of It's mostly just been annoying. Like when I had to level my entire squad's firepower at an enemy. They died on the literal last bullet that I could have fired that turn.
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Nov 24, 2022 00:50
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By popular demand posted:Just in case that someone is unaware: OpenXcom is available for Android and iOS so you can enjoy watching humanity's last hope get annihilated by your choices on your tablet while you take a flight or are recovering from a leg injury. oh I was NOT aware. Thanks!
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Nov 24, 2022 08:10
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glwgameplayer posted:Also somehow no Church of Dagon missions spawned, so I was tangling with the rest of the cults mostly. For this next stage we actually have to research all of them anyway because finding all of them is one of the requirements to get our second promotion. But it's still a little annoying that Dagon is hiding from us I know that feeling, for Me EXALT refused to show up until like May so it took a while to get their research.
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Nov 24, 2022 11:20
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File 5: Our First Safehouse Assaults *Begin Recording* Sunny’s Log: April 1st to May 1st This month got started on a bang, with our Information Center finished and our Bio Lab under construction, the team was hard at work with multiple projects, among them was acquiring us some new gear, and finally getting around to interrogating those farmers found in the crop circle investigations My personal favorite of the new weapons was actually the Magnum. It’s a handgun like any other but it has a strong kick, enough to put down even tough opponents in one go. After meeting some of the stronger and thicker-skinned animals, I agree we needed this  Then there’s the classic pump action shotgun, with options for beanbag rounds and armor-piercing shells. It took a while longer for us to actually get the weapons though because the Head Accountant demanded we be more… selective in what we purchase  (I'll confess I wasn't on top of my game. So you won't be seeing much of these for today's session.) Our first mission this month was a standard crop circle investigation, no one got hurt at all which was kind of amazing. Badger ended up having to bullrush the farmer because he ran out of taser shots.  Also this was around the time we finished our first two farmer interrogations. And I’m sad to say they were… less than helpful  (Interrogated targets give you random rewards. The abducted farmers have a chance of giving you garbage, and a chance of giving you something very good.) After that interrogation I heard the Medical officer and the commander talking about something… interesting  (This is another random interrogation reward. They give you some points, but are otherwise just amusing) We have a new “disguise” for if we need to go undercover, athletes going for a training retreat.  It’s not a perfect disguise, but there are some surprisingly dangerous items that we can take with us as sporting gear. The Commander went out of his way to get us some… unorthodox equipment like sporting rifles and crossbows. But after that, we got news of a new mission, one more dangerous than what we’ve done before. A Cult Safehouse  (I do believe that is a bitcrushed screenshot of EXALT from X-COM EU.) Luckily the Accountant had just finished a project of hers, increasing the power of our logistics network. And uh… make sure you compliment her work okay guys? She’s really stressed right now and I think she needs the positivity  With this done we could grab ourselves a Van in any city around the world. The Van is the same as a car, we all have to go through normal airport security and everything, but it has advantages. Four of us can team up for one mission. That said moving 4 people is a lot slower than just 2. So me, Ice Mole, Burnt Toast, and the Lone Badger all teamed up to go on this Cult Safehouse. This was our biggest mission against human enemies yet, and I think it could have been better, but we still did well. Sadly it took place at night, since the Van was slow we didn’t want to wait for day in case they scuttled the place and left.  (In case it wasn't clear, the green overlay is because I turned on nightvision mode for night missions. The bright areas are where the light is, the slightly dimmer areas are where the soldiers can see, and the very darkest places are where we haven't seen yet.) Sunny: Alright I see 2 of them in the back hiding in the barn! I have a clear shot. Ice Mole: Hold on! I want to try this.  Ice Mole: There we go! Hey Sunny, try and flank the guy in the barn. He looks more like a leader than this chump Sunny: On it! Everyone else spread out and search for hidden enemies!  Sunny: I’ve got this guy stunned! What about you guys? The Lone Badger: Found someone hidden in the orchard I’m taking him out!  Burnt Toast: There’s another one in the orchard! I got shot but the vest got the worst of it. The Lone Badger: Sorry! I’ll get him next.  Burnt Toast: Figures the medic is the one who gets shot… Mind patching me up Mole? Ice Mole: I got it. I just use these bandages here right? Burnt Toast: -sigh- I’ll show you  (This is a good excuse to show the medical overlay. Stimulants stave off stun, and painkillers increase morale, "Heal" is used to remove fatal injuries, which reduce your stats and deal damage over time.) After that initial struggle the worst of it was over. We had to poke around in the dark for other enemies, but the worst of it was already settled. Mission accomplished After this we had some more normal missions, but we got something else interesting. The scientists managed to dissect the Asmodean Cobra from way back when  According to the Information Officer, once we compile comprehensive proof of all 4 cults and these abnormal creatures, X-COM might be due for a promotion which would get us better equipment. They’ve been holding off on that while we find our footing, but with our Info Center and Bio Lab now finished, we’re due for one But while this was happening Sam and Nick were on an… interesting mission  Apparently someone found out something they shouldn’t have. The existence of monsters, the cults, signs of alien activity, we aren’t sure. And it broke them. They planned a terrorist attack to try and bring awareness to the situation. Nick and Sam were sent to stop them before they caused too much damage  They found the suspect outside of a basketball court waving a gun around. Sam took a few shots but the vest stopped the worst of it and they managed to capture him alive.  (These missions give you so much score oh my god) It was a huge success and the commander got a direct line of communication with the Council to thank him for his good job. And the commander, clever bastard that he is, took this opportunity to deliver our Summary Report  Despite our evidence, the council had to “think about it” so the Commander expected a response in a few days, no earlier. While that happened though, The Medical Officer finished her examination of some of the Red Dawn members and their Bio Enhancements  It explains why the Red Dawn goons are so strong, luckily strength and toughness only go so far against bullets. It also opened an avenue for us to try our hand at enhancement… but we’re waiting on that. It’s a bit risky right now  This is all the response that the Council sent the commander after our request for a promotion, along with a set of documents they claim we are now “cleared for.” It may not seem like much, it opened up a lot of doors for us.  A lot of doors.  One of the final pieces of early planning that we are now mostly done with is our “cover” system. This one is pretty simple, if it’s by a large swimmable part of the ocean, pretend you’re a beachgoer. There’s not a lot of equipment that doesn’t look out of place on the beach but… we can make it work. I hope. I don’t like the idea of fighting in swim trunks though…  This is part of what was in those documents that the Council sent us. The Japanese equivalent of X-COM, Kiryu Kai. I can only hope that we keep a stronger front than they did. It also makes me worry. The invasion starts on January 1st, 1999... The Info Specialist also looked into that alternate transit that we might be able to use, and due to our increased funding and promotion we got our hands on these babies  I know it’s just a different kind of car, but it’s much faster, much more stylish, and involves less investigation by the customs officers. It’s awesome.  This is what the maniac we stopped from performing a terrorist attack ended up telling us about. The Red Dawn Storm trade. Something we haven’t yet encountered in our investigation of Red Dawn. Very interesting…  He also had this and… I don’t know what this means  As we got close to the end of the month we had another general strategy meeting. Now that we have some more authority it’s time to really stick it to our enemies, but on top of that we need to grow. The Info Officer suggested that we try and find things that certain specialists would find interesting to entice them into joining us.  Also, we’re starting to hit the limits of what we can do using public transit and personal vehicles like cars, so she suggests that we look into getting flight training for all the agents, so we can get our hands on larger craft like helicopters. There was also an investigation that led us to a Black Lotus base in the desert but uh… We won that fight easily. The terrain favored us to a hilarious degree and the man dressed in black like a Ninja kinda stood out against the tan sand.  (You will learn to freeze in terror when facing any Black Lotus goons in this outfit. Luckily, this is the lowest rank of Black Lotus specialist) They didn’t manage to capture the ninja, but they did find someone else who wasn’t dressed like the others, he had a wide hat and was wearing actual armor and wielding a shotgun better than the other Black Lotus members. We assumed he was a higher rank and Dak captured him  I would say that now that we have an Information Center, Bio Lab, and enough workers for both to keep up with research and increase our gear, we’re doing wonderfully. And I hope we can keep that forward momentum going as we try harder and harder to get rid of all these cults.  We got another raise to go along with our promotion. We can’t grow too quickly, we’re only actually making about 500 thousand right now, setting our income against our maintenance. So the Commander doesn’t seem like he’s going to be building us a large living quarter or a second gym anytime soon. This is Captain Sunny, Singing Off *End Recording* (LPer Notes) So, as you may have noticed, we have moved up in the world! With every promotion, X-COM gains access to a higher “tier” of goods from what normal human tech has to offer. Going forward expect to get much better weapons, rifles, and other so on. Technically I could have unlocked this earlier if I had an autopsy done of any of our weird mutant creatures but, I needed to get the basics done first. Also, since we have done our first research into every cult, they have now started to spawn “Cult Safehouse” missions. Cult Safehouse missions are going to be our bread and butter going forward because they always have at least one member of a higher rank in the safe house. We now have a Rank 2 EXALT and Rank 2 Black Lotus member in our interrogation chambers, and could interrogate them in order to open up the next stage of their cult missions. In essence, every time you research a primary piece of info about one of the cults, you make them just a little bit angrier at you, and you get just a little bit closer to them allowing you to access more dangerous and rewarding missions. It’s entirely possible to be doing HQ attacks on one cult when another hasn’t even progressed past the Safehouse stage because you haven’t looked into them too hard. I do want to do Dagon first since that’s what we voted on but uh. If one of their higher-stage guys doesn’t show up too soon I’ll have to investigate Black Lotus and EXALT. Especially since one of our new support team recruits only comes after we have done stage 2 research into these four cults. Gameplay Corner I think I’ve hit all of the major points, so unless anyone has any questions, I’ll go directly to the armory. The Magnum is one of my favorite handguns, and you should be able to tell why. 38 damage is a lot, especially from a gun you can use one handed, and it’s pretty deadly. It still has many of the advantages and weaknesses of normal handguns, but it’s got a stronger kick and a smaller clip.  The Agricultural Flamer doesn’t deal that much direct damage, but as a flamethrower it can be used to destroy terrain, set people on fire, and set terrain on fire to deter melee enemies. It’s not the best weapon for actually killing your enemies, but it has uses. It’s also a bit heavy so using it limits what else an agent can carry. This is the real good stuff. This shotgun has much longer range than the short shotgun, I believe it’s accuracy starts dropping after the 12th tile when using an aimed shot. That’s not exceptionally good range, but it’s way, way better than any shotgun we’ve had up to this point. On top of that it has two alternate ammo types. Armor piercing shells only fire 1 pellet, making them weaker than most shotgun shells. However, that one pellet hits extremely hard, making it easier to break through armor. The Baton rounds are objectively worse in every way, but are a stun weapon.  The Van is our first real upgrade in Agent capacity considering that the Mudranger is awful. In exchange for reducing our speed by about half the Van allows us to take 4 agents into battle instead of 2, and it has basically infinite range and fuel. If I wanted I could park a van in America and wait for an EXALT mission to spawn. There will be other, better vehicles but. This one is a good start. glwgameplayer fucked around with this message at 17:12 on Nov 25, 2022 |
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Nov 25, 2022 17:09
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On careful consideration, I wouldn't mind if we tackled Exalt. Because Amercia 
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Nov 25, 2022 18:26
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Oh I remember the magnum from my TWOTS gameplay, it's a real motherfucker for the size especially when you research advanced ammo for it. Only downside is the relatively short range. Even though alien weapons outclass it you always come back to the basics to conserve the rare alien ammunition.
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Nov 25, 2022 18:49
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If you end up needing a fellow, George Gief, CFL washout, stands ready to get mowed down by things from another world
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Nov 25, 2022 18:49
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Yeah, if we still need some bodies please feel free to sign me up with whatever weapon type you're lowest on
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Nov 25, 2022 20:18
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glwgameplayer posted:Also somehow no Church of Dagon missions spawned, so I was tangling with the rest of the cults mostly. For this next stage we actually have to research all of them anyway because finding all of them is one of the requirements to get our second promotion. But it's still a little annoying that Dagon is hiding from us 
namesake fucked around with this message at 20:34 on Nov 25, 2022 |
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Nov 25, 2022 20:30
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It occurs to me that I haven't been talking about tactics too much but. To be honest, for most of the game my tactics are pretty simple. I shoot them from as far away as I can, unless I'd like to stun them. In that case, I try to hide behind various bits of terrain and creep closer. If I could build an entire team that used nothing but hunting rifles to shoot the enemy from a million miles away I would do it. We'll get more into specific tactics as we get into more dangerous missions. The most annoying thing is when I can't find the enemy. If you play old X-COM in general you will get very used to the idea of enemies sneaking up on you or hiding in weird annoying corners of the map. It seems like we'll be forced to deal with EXALT and Black Lotus by the way because I'm very unlucky and can't seem to find any Church of Dagon enemies. They can't hide forever but... they're doing an okay job of it so far
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Nov 25, 2022 20:30
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"Yes, I will." "D'oh."
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Nov 25, 2022 21:30
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Gilgamesh255 posted:"Yes, I will." I thought it was another "Won't"?
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Nov 25, 2022 21:52
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I like how most our weapons at the moment can be waved off as being used for shooting competitions, save for the flamethrower. "So, the magnum?" "Shooting range." "The rifle?" "Shooting clay discs." "Alright, checks out so far, but how do you explain that flamethrower there?" "...look, buddy, there's some things that bullets and sheers can't fix." "Ugh, I hear ya, some days I wish I could just burn all the leaves in my yard, but nooo, apparently I need a permit for that." "I know, right?"
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Nov 25, 2022 21:55
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I guess that by the time you get the really wonkey exotic stuff Xcom had been promoted to actual MIB status and needs no more excuses.
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Nov 25, 2022 21:59
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Yeah at first X-COM is this little investigation group that has been formed on a whim. After the first promotion, you are the Paranormal Activity unit and have access to some higher-grade stuff that normal people can't get their hands on since you have been revealed to be dealing with real problems. The second promotion makes you the Paranormal Security Unit and gets you access to military-grade stuff. The third promotion makes you the UFO Defense Unit, giving you access to the best of everything earth has to offer. You start obtaining the power to ignore the law and wave a badge around after the first promotion but the second promotion is when you have the MIB status of "you flash the badge, everyone else nods and stands back" And yes, that does mean after the third promotion you are X-COM: UFO Defense. A title drop for the original game.
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Nov 25, 2022 22:40
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Strong "YOU CAN'T CUT BACK ON FUNDING, YOU WILL REGRET THIS!" energy from the logistics officer.
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Nov 25, 2022 23:16
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glwgameplayer posted:It occurs to me that I haven't been talking about tactics too much but. To be honest, for most of the game my tactics are pretty simple. I shoot them from as far away as I can, unless I'd like to stun them. In that case, I try to hide behind various bits of terrain and creep closer. If I could build an entire team that used nothing but hunting rifles to shoot the enemy from a million miles away I would do it. We'll get more into specific tactics as we get into more dangerous missions. Bug hunt mode: a mod that lets enemies show up on the minimap when you are down to the last one or two. Don't know how how well it would work with the madman scenario but it is a lifesaver for complicated maps.
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Nov 26, 2022 00:09
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habituallyred posted:Bug hunt mode: a mod that lets enemies show up on the minimap when you are down to the last one or two. Don't know how how well it would work with the madman scenario but it is a lifesaver for complicated maps. I'm pretty sure there is already a Bug Hunt mode in this, it just doesn't show up until you spent like 30 turns on one map.
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Nov 26, 2022 02:19
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I just checked this mod out and had a good laugh at all of the various art used for things. Some of which ibjad a similar reaction to Cythereal in a "...did you have to use THAT image specifically?" but so far it has been a fun time. Because I'm a huge chicken I am only on easy difficulty but I've still lost an agent or two to a closet shotgun in the first month
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Nov 26, 2022 05:25
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I'll sign up with whatever weapon types and perfectly willing to do covert ops.
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Nov 26, 2022 07:18
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Is the .44 magnum the biggest revolver or can you go up to .454 with the next promotion?
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Nov 26, 2022 09:46
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Unless they added true handcannons since I last played TWOTS (which is definitely possible) .44 magnum is the most power you get for one hand with earth tech. though as I previously told the advanced ammo you research later lets it almost keep up with alien tech.
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Nov 26, 2022 10:50
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Aces High posted:I just checked this mod out and had a good laugh at all of the various art used for things. Some of which ibjad a similar reaction to Cythereal in a "...did you have to use THAT image specifically?" but so far it has been a fun time. I have had my first "grenade into the cabin of the dropship" moment the other day, and it made me feel like I've finally arrived. ... I also wonder if there's a way to put the rookies closest to the exit. I lost a couple of high-ranking agents. :/
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Nov 26, 2022 11:07
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glwgameplayer posted:Sunny: Alright I see 2 of them in the back hiding in the barn! I have a clear shot.  Yay, war crimes!
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Nov 26, 2022 12:15
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IceMole posted:
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Nov 26, 2022 12:20
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It's technically only a war crime if both sides are signitories of a treaty to this effect, since niether the aliens nor the cults are in any hurry to set up diplomatic relations
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Nov 26, 2022 12:58
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You're gonna need more soldiers eventually, so sign me up for whatever needs doing.
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Nov 26, 2022 13:36
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