|
I never found the mobile cover to be that useful, because anytime you'd use it the enemies would suddenly remember they packed a grenade with them
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2017 16:48
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 28, 2024 22:47 |
|
|
Alchenar posted:The both new XCOMs feel like they've really struggled to place the robot classes - in the originals they were there as an ablative HP platform that would never improve but which used sensibly could keep your rookies a bit more alive and only cost money to replace. Firaxis kept the 'not as good as a veteran human' bit but without the mass attrition of the originals and with much much tighter resource constraints they're just a sub-optimal choice. SPARKs are already pretty good actually. You're ignoring a lot of what they can do with some of their in-built advantages (rocket boots, ability to deploy when injured, in-built tankiness, Overdrive, Shredder). They don't necessarily obsolete a base class, but I would argue that is a good thing. There should always be a reason to bring a class. SPARKs are dependable and very flexible. They have one of the best single-turn bursts in the game with Overdrive which lets them reposition and take two shots, or shoot+heavy weapon or shoot 3 times etc which is incredible if you activate a bad pod or fight a strong enemy. They can also flank easier than any other class since they completely ignore elevation. I think with some of the stat buff's they'll get in WotC we'll see them really shine since they were previously held back by low aim more than anything. Higher aim, and Autoloader/extended magazines, means things like Hunter Protocol or Overdrive become incredibly good. And it means you can pick Bulwark and still reasonably hit 3 shots on an Overdrive turn instead of being forced to grab Adaptive Aim.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2017 16:58
|
|
|
One of my biggest problems with SPARKs is cost. Supplies are limited in this game, and for SPARKs you need: - supplies to build them: each one costs 2 Elerium cores, 10 Elerium crystals, 30 alloys, 150 supplies - this is more expensive than the top tier human armors, which are 1 core/5 crystals/10 alloys/50 supplies each - they have entirely different equipment upgrade trees than humans, meaning you need to build: * better weapons (Helix AutoCannon, Elerium Phase-Cannon) * better armor (Reinforced Frame, Anodized Chassis) ... just for your SPARK unit(s). I don't have the costs handy, but I assume they cost roughly the same as the human-equivalent weapon and armor. I don't remember if there are SPARK-specific Proving Ground projects you need to unlock these. I can spend a lot of supplies building an additional SPARK unit, or I can upgrade all the rifles that my squad can carry. I can build a better piece of armor for my SPARK, or I can build a WAR suit that any of my soldiers can use. Or I can build something in the Avenger or build a radio relay to get closer to the next plot mission. Or even build that extra Psi lab spot because Psis are overpowered. By the time I am rolling in enough resources to be able to not worry about SPARK costs, the enemy is throwing Andromedons and Gatekeepers at me, and Jimmy the rookie SPARK is at best something that tags along with a good squad so you can farm kills for it. Good XCOM 2 play relies on a few factors. One is cover destruction, which the SPARK has some of (but Grenadiers can carry a lot more, not to mention even basic soldiers in WAR suits.) Another is reliable damage, and SPARK aim is fine at best but it's certainly not like having a Psi who can cast something to kill/damage/disable an enemy every turn, or a good Sharpshooter who is resting on the top of building using their drat Good Ground bonus. The third is "gently caress me I did a bad activation halp" and Overdrive can help with that, but then again Grenadiers have Salvo which can blow up cover and let me (and everyone else) shoot at the exposed enemies, and there are all sorts of soldier abilities that give me a free shooting action. SPARKs would be useful if they carried more grenades. It makes sense from a lore perspective (big robotic frames should be able to carry more grenades), and you could "not obsolete" the grenadier by reducing range or something.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2017 18:14
|
|
|
SHIVs were great in Enemy Within thanks to all the foundry upgrades they could get.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2017 18:31
|
|
|
My favorite use of the MECs in EW was to rock-em sock-em punch dudes through walls. I wonder if it would throw off the balance too much to have a melee attack from a SPARK that grabs and squeezes an enemy in a big robo-bear hug, like the Vipers do to your dudes. It would be nice to have one other way besides freeze grenades and Stasis to lock down a single enemy on a turn and avoid return fire.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2017 18:32
|
|
|
In other news, another article focusing on a system in the expansion, this time the Covert Action system. Also reveals just how many new types of panic, or "Battle Madness" as they call it now. In addition to normal Panic, there is now Obsession, Berserk, and Shattered. I can imagine Berserk and Shattered easily enough (former is presumably TAKE ALL THE AGGRESSIVE ACTIONS, latter is probably going be opposite and be defensive moves only), but I'm kinda curious what Obsession could be.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2017 18:56
|
|
|
I think obsession would be always reloading or activating your medkit when applicable.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2017 19:03
|
|
|
jfood posted:I think obsession would be always reloading or activating your medkit when applicable. Maybe always shooting at Mutons or something because they were hit by one once.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2017 19:11
|
|
|
Or become utterly focused on whatever enemy inflicted the panic on them, and always moving straight away from them, as far as possible, and hunkering (or straight towards them, as close as possible, and firing.)
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2017 19:59
|
|
|
canyoneer posted:My favorite use of the MECs in EW was to rock-em sock-em punch dudes through walls. I wonder if it would throw off the balance too much to have a melee attack from a SPARK that grabs and squeezes an enemy in a big robo-bear hug, like the Vipers do to your dudes. I loved being able to have a MEC punch a mechanoid and rip the sectoid right out of it 
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2017 20:56
|
|
|
I really liked the LW1 MECs, there were a number of cool types to build. Others were kinda bad, but could at least fill in gaps in your quads when certain people died or got sent to sickbay for a month.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2017 22:41
|
|
|
canyoneer posted:I never found the mobile cover to be that useful, because anytime you'd use it the enemies would suddenly remember they packed a grenade with them Ditto. I found SHIVs more useful for flanking bonus. Especially once you got Hover SHIVs and suddenly you have a cheap, flying scout to get behind the enemy team and shoot their exposed asses. Bogart posted:SHIVs were great in Enemy Within thanks to all the foundry upgrades they could get. And yeah, this is the big difference between SHIVs and EW MECs and SPARKs. Both the former had various foundry upgrades, including loving auto-regen HP on the SHIVs. The SPARKs get some cool junk, both innate and in skills, but also gently caress and all for Proving Ground upgrades.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2017 22:41
|
|
|
Darkrenown posted:I really liked the LW1 MECs, there were a number of cool types to build. Others were kinda bad, but could at least fill in gaps in your quads when certain people died or got sent to sickbay for a month. I think you mean "got sent to get cut up by Vahlen and turned into robots"  Alkydere posted:Ditto. I found SHIVs more useful for flanking bonus. Especially once you got Hover SHIVs and suddenly you have a cheap, flying scout to get behind the enemy team and shoot their exposed asses. Hover SHIVs were great, I did the final mission once with five of them and a sniper.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2017 22:48
|
|
|
I really liked the shivs/tanks in the 90's xcom: you had an army of lovely rookies with no armor, and maybe laser rifles, but you had a loving tank that could *actually* take like 2-3 hits without dying. Those things were loving fantastic.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2017 23:20
|
|
|
redreader posted:I really liked the shivs/tanks in the 90's xcom: you had an army of lovely rookies with no armor, and maybe laser rifles, but you had a loving tank that could *actually* take like 2-3 hits without dying. Those things were loving fantastic. Xenonauts did that pretty well themselves. The vehicles had such high armor/resistances on their front you'd hear almost nothing but ricochet noises from reaction fire as you advanced it, using up the enemy's TU's and revealing them. Then you blow a huge honking hole in a wall and your squad just lays in.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2017 23:25
|
|
|
monster on a stick posted:I think you mean "got sent to get cut up by Vahlen and turned into robots" Well yeah, Robocopping terribly wounded troops was a great theme too, and I miss that in 2, but I can't chop everyone who eats a plasma round to the face. Like now troops just want to die when they get horribly maimed? Slackers! Even in death they should still serve. Especially since we can carry people off the map, you should be able to Evac corpses within X turns and Dreadnought them.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2017 23:41
|
|
|
Darkrenown posted:Well yeah, Robocopping terribly wounded troops was a great theme too, and I miss that in 2, but I can't chop everyone who eats a plasma round to the face. Like now troops just want to die when they get horribly maimed? Slackers! Even in death they should still serve. Especially since we can carry people off the map, you should be able to Evac corpses within X turns and Dreadnought them. That'll be XCom 3, when we become Advent trying to hold off the otherworldly dimensional horrors of an Apocalypse redux.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2017 23:53
|
|
|
marshmallow creep posted:That'll be XCom 3, when we become Advent trying to hold off the otherworldly dimensional horrors of an Apocalypse redux. ...huh. I hadn't realized that a great premise for XCOM 3 is basically Phoenix Point.
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2017 00:47
|
|
|
So, how about those snake tits?
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2017 17:20
|
|
|
Iron Crowned posted:So, how about those snake tits? TBH I remember laughing about it when the original trailers were revealed, and when I actually played the game after buying it in a sale 6 months ago I had forgotten all about it and never noticed the snake tits in game. I was too busy baiting the vipers to tongue-grab my Bladestorm equipped ranger. I once had a chain in a single turn of 2 vipers tongue-grabbing that ranger, who instakilled the grabber with bladestorm taking no damage, then the next one grabbed the ranger and the same thing happened. That ranger won the "did most damage" award that round
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2017 17:50
|
|
|
Vipers were the worst loving thing ever before they reworked the dodge mechanic. At launch, you could have a 100% chance to hit and still miss them painfully often. It meant the answer was "All explosives, all the time," even moreso than it is now.
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2017 17:51
|
|
|
I haven't been following XCOM2 since release, what did they change about dodge?
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2017 17:58
|
|
|
Chakan posted:I haven't been following XCOM2 since release, what did they change about dodge? It doesn't apply if you have 100% hit rate any more.
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2017 18:01
|
|
|
It also no longer applies when you attack from concealment.
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2017 20:44
|
|
|
Backhand posted:Vipers were the worst loving thing ever before they reworked the dodge mechanic. At launch, you could have a 100% chance to hit and still miss them painfully often. It meant the answer was "All explosives, all the time," even moreso than it is now. Replace Vipers with Archons. The fuckers had more HP, more Defense and more Dodge. Each of those became 1.5 to 2-turn affairs to kill the dodgy bastards for me on Veteran. Especailly because I was saving the explosives to shred the MECs or Gatekeepers I was seeing alongside them. The Dodge nerf was desperately needed. Also, gently caress, 18 days left. 
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2017 21:31
|
|
|
It's why you want some Psi-Powers or Stocks! If guns can't do it, then try < THE POWER OF THE MIND >
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2017 22:56
|
|
|
uh https://twitter.com/XCOM/status/896163729129078784
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2017 01:44
|
|
|
What the hell are they talking about? Is XCOM drunk again?
|
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2017 01:49
|
|
|
That looks like a poster from the new poster-maker and the media embargo on WotC is lifting soon
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2017 01:52
|
|
|
Lifting the embargo this early is a fantastic sign
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2017 02:25
|
|
|
Rad, I was probably gonna preorder the expansion anyway but am eagerly awaiting reviews
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2017 03:48
|
|
|
I'm trying to finish my impossible run before WotC and its such a loving slog. I love playing this game but Xcom 2 is running like a dumpster fire for me. Its so slow and crashes every once in awhile. Its not like I have a ton of mods to create an unstable game either. I really hope WotC runs well but odds are its just gonna make performance even worse.
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2017 04:23
|
|
|
Internet Kraken posted:I'm trying to finish my impossible run before WotC and its such a loving slog. Solomon has said that they have also made a bunch of optimizations for WotC.
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2017 05:09
|
|
|
Internet Kraken posted:I'm trying to finish my impossible run before WotC and its such a loving slog. Both of my last two runs have ended as the final mission becomes available because it runs like a total shitshow and I can never successfully complete the mission due to it's length. Everything else is fine 
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2017 09:46
|
|
|
I know at some point they made some improvements because the second time I played the final mission, it took a full minute to run an alien turn, and then this last time I did it, it was smooth and problem free.
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2017 15:07
|
|
|
The Jedi class mod is hilarious watching some guy stab entire pods to death.
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2017 16:10
|
|
|
Zore posted:I think its a distinct possibility. I had an unactivated Berserker Queen wipe out a pod of three archons on a "protect the device" mission. It was on the roof of the device's building and I guess couldn't see the target so never went after it. (or maybe rulers aren't set to attack mission objectives)
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2017 00:54
|
|
|
Rulers don't attack objectives like that, IIRC, since they don't actually work for Advent. They just try to turbo-murder your soldiers.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2017 01:42
|
|
|
Bogart posted:SHIVs were great in Enemy Within thanks to all the foundry upgrades they could get. SHIVs were the best. I miss those little tanks.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2017 01:45
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 28, 2024 22:47 |
|
|
canyoneer posted:TBH I remember laughing about it when the original trailers were revealed, and when I actually played the game after buying it in a sale 6 months ago I had forgotten all about it and never noticed the snake tits in game. The snake tits thing was extra fun because "snake tits" became a meme in two separate, unrelated threads near-simultaneously. (the other thread was Game of Thrones)
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2017 02:25
|
|