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Hey Jade Star, which cosmetic mods do you have? I think I need to know if you have this before submitting a character.
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Jul 12, 2016 21:57
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ZiegeDame posted:I'm starting to worry that my ridiculous soldier is going to be one of the more reasonably dressed. We're going for realism here. The effectiveness of starting armour is accurately depicted by the half-naked outfits from Anarchy's Children, and the hugely popular "Twitchy" attitude is appropriate for a squad that is likely to chain-panic the moment somebody stubs their toe.
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Jul 13, 2016 08:20
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R.I.P., rookie. Unlike all the shots you took, you will not be missed.
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Jul 15, 2016 07:29
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OK, so it's a tutorial mission - but it's a very clever tutorial that gets a lot done, both in terms of teaching you stuff and plot. I think using a grenade to make a door was a particularly nice touch. Apart from what we're explicitly told, we also learned that:
It's a little bit sad to hear Jane Kelly will be retired. Also, the first three goons are here for the first real mission. Cain and Margottini appear to be under the impression that this is a serious military organization. Mr Lobster knows what it's all about.
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Jul 16, 2016 08:31
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Jade Star posted:Operation Nigel Cummings' Fart A minor correction: grenade damage spread isn't 50-50; it's 80-20. DefaultGameData_WeaponData.ini posted:FragGrenade_BaseDamage = (Damage=3, Spread = 0, PlusOne = 20, Crit = 0, Pierce = 0, Shred=1, Tag = "", DamageType="Explosion") You could have got a 100% chance to hit that last guy with the shotgun, and this is one reason why I find swords to be slightly underwhelming. The problem with swords is that 88% chance to hit is 12% chance to die. Of course, that last guy was on fire, so he'd have burned to death at the start of the next alien turn anyway. Firaxis may have conceded that sword-haters had a point - swords got two buffs in the last patch.... but Jane Kelly is benefitting from neither of them right now, because one needs a promotion and the other needs the Gorilla tactics school. Oh, and I guess it's no longer a spoiler to post this: 
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Jul 18, 2016 08:51
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Jade Star posted:The ability to make a full dash and still get to make an attack on a target is a big deal. Before you get run+gun, you have to make do with dash+slash. It has its uses, especially with Blademaster, which makes the sword a guaranteed kill against those 4-HP troopers and even 8-HP sectoids. I really do mean "guaranteed", because Blademsaster gives an aim bonus to swords. I'm not a huge fan of Phantom, and I'd never put it on my first ranger. A skill that prevents the ranger from participating in overwatch ambushes? No thanks. However, on non-timed missions, a squadsight sniper and a concealed ranger can completely cheese the game. It's almost as abusive as the squadsight-sniper+mimetic-skin-spotter combo in the previous XCOM. I think there's a case for Phantom later in the game. One trick you didn't demonstrate on this mission: hacking a lamp post with the intention of failing, and setting an overwatch trap for the reinforcements. I think there was time to try it.
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Jul 19, 2016 08:42
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Bruceski posted:Pectoids are a force multiplier; if other things require your attention, they can and will make a bunch of complications. That's true of most of the aliens. Aliens have all kinds of strange abilities, but they are mostly suited for a support role. Advent grunts don't have all those fancy powers - which limits them to doing boring things like tossing grenades and shooting at you. Usually in that order.
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Jul 19, 2016 18:45
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So it takes 5 days to research some duct tape to stick those mods onto your weapons. Totally worth it though. My preferences: Scope: This one's a tough choice. Everybody wants more aim, but I usually give it to the sniper (who needs to be able to hit aliens behind cover from 3 screens away), or the grenadier (who needs to be able to hit a tank-sized death robot standing out in the open 3 feet away). The grenadier needs it more, I think. Stock: Guaranteed damage is incredibly useful in this game - for finishing off almost-dead aliens, breaking overwatch, or breaking even more unpleasant things the aliens might do. I also give it to the specialist (and rename the weapon "Combat Prot". I wish weapon names could be longer). A good stock could also go on a rapid-firing ranger, which turns that skill into a respectable guaranteed-damage dealer. Hair trigger, Repeater: Meh. In XCOM we care much more about worst-case performance than best-case performance, which means I'm not a huge fan of these. I sometimes give the repeater to the grenadier, because if there's something big that needs killing, the grenadier is usually the one that shoots first. Autoloader, Expanded magazine: These feel like 2 solutions to the same problem, and I think the auto-loader is better for everyone except a killzoning sniper. Laser sight: Rangers with 100% crit chance are fun. These mods really do add something to the game. We didn't really have these toys in the previous XCOM - well, we had scopes and reaper rounds, but that was it and they sat in an equipment slot. They are more like medals in Enemy Within, except because they stick to weapons and not soldiers, you can take them on every mission. They make me more likely to take the time to carry a dead or bleeding rookie to an EVAC zone - rookies may be worthless but their modded weapons are not. zyxophoj fucked around with this message at 20:01 on Jul 21, 2016 |
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Jul 21, 2016 19:57
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That illustrates one slight problem with cross-class skills - sniper rifle skills usually take two actions, and skills for other guns usually take one. That Killzone Ranger can mitigate the problem to some degree by running and gunning, but other classes are out of luck. It gets really silly when it's the other way round: Commander: "Sniper, take out that officer!" Sniper: "Sir, I'm out of ammo and I don't have enough time to reload and shoot" Commander: "Don't give me that crap, soldier. If you can't shoot him once, shoot him twice." Sniper: "Oh, right. I totally have enough time to reload and do that."
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Jul 21, 2016 20:42
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Those dark events can be so frustrating sometimes.
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Jul 23, 2016 21:19
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Godnnelg posted:Man you aren't kidding... Ha ha ha that is why it's usually a good idea to reveal the last event.  Rick_Hunter posted:I'm still I can't take credit for "Ayyliens". I started with a screenshot from my own game, and forgot I had this very special mod running.
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Jul 24, 2016 10:27
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at "Ayyliens"
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GoonCom beat the first One nice little touch is that civilians have names now. Losing "Yekatarina Morozova" hurts so much more than losing "Civilian". If they have names, they must be important. I think Jade got screwed slightly by the timing here. The first retaliation happened about 5 minutes into the second month. One enemy type which can't appear until the second month is... stun lancers! Oh, how we love these enemies. We love how they can double-move-charge in on our soldiers, and then make an attack that doesn't care about cover and is capable of incapacitating a solder regardless of how many HP they have. And yet Jake thought that that on its own wasn't enough bullshit so he gave them some dodge.  Lancers are not so bad later on in the game, but having to deal with them this early can be painful.A fun little detail: although cover can't help you, suppression can. This is because the "dash and bash" maneuver all counts as a single attack and the game calculates its probability of hitting when the action is started - while suppression is still in effect. In principle, the lancers could mitigate this by splitting it into a move followed by a 1-move dash-and-bash. In practice, they don't do that. Another little quirk is that if, during the charge, something happens to the lancer that takes away its melee ability (getting set on fire, for example), then the attack is aborted. Meaning the lancer just made a double move for free and it still has its two actions to move again and shoot. Wonderful. (Hmm. Now that I come to think of it, could XCOM trigger the same effect on purpose by pathing a dash+slash through a fire? I need to test that.) The autopsy mechanic is rather odd. Despite the game saying it's "experience in battle", it's just the number of corpses in storage that affects the autopsy speed. So in general you should never do an autopsy unless it's free or you need the results in a hurry. Instant autopsies is one reason why I'm a big advocate of triggering reinforcements on purpose in missions where you get to keep the corpses you make. Although you need a lot of corpses to do an instant autopsy, only one corpse is consumed. I guess Tygan just needs to look at the corpses or something. In the case of the faceless, I would always do the autopsy when I have 3 corpses - 1 for the autopsy itself and 2 to build a mimic beacon. Despite the nerf, those things are still insanely good.
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Jul 24, 2016 22:14
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I cringe every time Jade puts half the squad in cover behind an unexploded car. Always mind your surroundings. Blast padding might not be such a bad pick if you're going to do that .
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Jul 25, 2016 19:02
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Tin Tim posted:Never counter that ufo if you know what you're doing in the game I got one very early and it was rough. Four stun lancer charges, 4 hits, 3 knockouts. Fortunately, you can just pile the unconscious bodies up in the evac zone - you don't need to have someone carrying them to get them out. Aliens then tried the same thing next month and got completely slaughtered. Upgrading to mag weapons made a big difference.
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Jul 27, 2016 23:09
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Nobody's talking about the viper? Anyone keeping abreast of the fan reaction to XCOM2 knows that this alien is extremely popular in certain circles. Tumblr and Deviantart in particular have been milking it for all it's worth. The tongue-grab is a really obnoxious ability. Getting yoinked out of cover is no fun at all, especially if the unfortunate victim is moved into a position that wakes up more aliens. On top of that, it's not a turn-ending ability, so the viper can immediately follow it up by constricting. Ouch. Mimic beacons are good for wasting their turn, as they will try to grab, poison, and squeeze holograms - none of which has any effect at all. Nice to see the debut of Man Whore on this mission. I'm sure that going into battle naked and setting himself on fire is an excellent strategy.
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Jul 28, 2016 08:21
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Mightypeon posted:Heal rate actually isnt that important early on imho. I'd say a squaddie grenadier or ranger is meaningfully different from a rookie - although once the gorilla tactics school is built, we shouldn't be running out of those. ...or are you counting rookies as level 0?
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Jul 30, 2016 18:44
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I think you mean "Ssseecrettss". Jade Star posted:Almost forgot! Angry Lobster: Thermidor Chris Gasmaks: Catnap Margottini: seconding Misclick This mission is a good example of why , at just about every part of the specialist's skill tree, I think to myself: "I want both of these". We saw the usefulness of reviving today, but the combat-side skills would have been very useful for turning that MEC into a pile of scrap metal. MECs are a an annoying enemy, especially this early in the game. They are dangerous enough that I really want them dead in one turn, and they have a lot of HP and armor so that's not always possible. Also, they are fast, and not caring about cover means they are often able to rush forward and get in a flanking shot. Ouch. It's like all the things that made MECs fun in Enemy Within become unfair bullshit when they are on the aliens' side. MECs mostly use that grenade ability when they can hit more than one soldier with it. I suspect the reason Guava hardly ever sees it is that he doesn't bunch up his soldiers like a noob. (Although, really, that second move should have been safe. There was an element of bullshit in that activation.) Still, one nice thing about MECs is that the corpse they leave behind gives a very useful gremlin upgrade once researched. Although you do need to bring it back to the Avenger. That is one frustrating thing about the "guerilla resistance" thing in XCOM2 - you don't always get to keep those delicious, delicious corpses.
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Jul 31, 2016 08:53
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I need nicknames for Angry Lobster the Grenadier, Chris Gasmask the Ranger, and Alessandra Margottini the Sharpshooter
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Tendales posted:Shadow Strike applies any time the enemy couldn't see you at the start of your action. So it works out of concealment, but it also works when you're just running around a corner. So.. out of concealment, that would only apply to dash+slash. Or, perhaps, where there is a LoS asymmetry due to step-around. Also, it's possible to come out of concealment 3 times in one mission if there is a "reconceal the entire squad" hack reward. Despite all this, I'm still not a fan of shadowstrike. In a timed mission, I don't have time for this fiddling, and in a non-timed mission, I'd rather keep the ranger concealed and let my snipers do the killing.
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Jul 31, 2016 11:13
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Jade Star posted:The description does not lead me to believe you are correct; You made me try it. Tendales is correct. (Fortunately for the soldier getting squeezed by this snake, as this would otherwise have 20% chance to miss) Fix your descriptions, Jake.
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Jul 31, 2016 12:52
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InfinityComplex posted:"DODGE: JAKE FIX YOUR BULLSHIT" He did! Right now, shots with 100% chance to hit can't be dodged. This was not always the case.
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Aug 1, 2016 06:58
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Green Intern posted:That's just the mission you get if you don't go through the tutorial. You play out the demolition/distraction portion of Operation Gatecrasher. It can be a tough mission, because rookies suck. Especially when this bullshit happens.
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Aug 2, 2016 22:31
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Green Intern posted:As an aside, it makes really gross-tasting root beer. Is there any other kind of root beer?
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Aug 5, 2016 07:52
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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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Jade Star posted:
Heheheh... This DLC (and the other one) introduces something we haven't seen in previous XCOM games - boss fights. Well, mostly haven't seen. Does the Uber Ethereal count as a boss? If one soldier can kill it in one turn, I don't think it counts. I'm not sure if XCOM really needs bosses but they are good for one thing: making the player lose control of the situation. We've gotten a bit too good at (ab)using game mechanics to avoid taking damage, and that might be what's so terrifying about this 90-HP, stun-resistant juggernaut. (Hmm. If frustrating a defensive player is what counts as a boss, maybe the Slingshot Douchedisk was XCOM's nastiest boss.) We do get some tools to deal with it, though. Shen's Specialist abilities dish out a lot of armor-ignoring damage. Then you have the spark with its rocket and shredding, on top of being an extra soldier. The level is also there to help: those very large exploding objects also provide some damage and shred. Sometimes Julian stomps on them, saving XCOM the trouble of blowing them up. Also, Shen's threat assessment can dish out a lot of pain. No, really, it was painful to watch Jade not use that.
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Aug 8, 2016 20:05
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Poor Angry Lobster. Epitaph: Blast padding would have helped.
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Aug 8, 2016 22:54
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Jenner posted:Also why does a snake have titties? Jake Solomon said he'd never bring snakemen back. But he didn't say anything about snakewomen.
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Aug 10, 2016 08:08
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One very nice feature added in XCOM2 is the ability to shoot at exploding objects. Granted, it's a solution to a problem that exists only because we don't have free targetting like in the very first X-Com game, but still. It can sometimes act as a kind of alien-detector because you get the option only when the explosion would hurt aliens, and it appears even if you don't know that the aliens are there. Also, I see Siobhan Mackenzie and Eph Phatha got promoted and need nicknames. Considering Mackenzie's class and extreme spikiness, there's an obvious choice for her:  Shredder.
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Aug 14, 2016 12:02
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Psion posted:Doing the "complete a mission using soldiers of one class" achievement with six grenadiers was hilarious, let me tell you I also picked grenadiers for that one. I was a bit short of cover towards the end. XCOM: Your insurance won't pay for our visit.
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Aug 17, 2016 22:54
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The reinforcements on that blacksite mission don't appear until after you grab the macguffin, and the first batch always drops very close to the evac point. So the best way to deal with them is to get on the roof, get everybody except the designated vial-grabber overwatching that area, then grab the thing and watch the fun. The axe weapon actually does one more point of damage than the ranger sword at the same tier, so it's usually a good idea to use that. Unless of course you have Hulk Hogan, who always hits for max damage. The only possible explanation is that he's actually leg-dropping everything, and the game only shows a slash because it doesn't have an animation for the signature move of Hulk "Leg Drop" Hogan. But remember, those hunter weapons are irreplacable. Even the grenade, which literally explodes but is somehow reconstructed in time for the next mission. And the pair of axes, even if you throw one of them at an alien and don't recover the alien's body. Jade Star posted:
Sadly, it's a pale imitation of the awesomeness that was the MEC punch in Enemy Within. It doesn't do as much damage, it doesn't cause aliens to fly back when it kills, it can miss, it's on a cooldown, and worst of all, there are no special kill animations. It does have the advantage of being usable at the end of a move action, so, with overdrive, a spark can make 3 moves and finish with a punch. This trick should be called "Whoosh and boosh".
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Aug 18, 2016 20:21
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heenato posted:Nickname Julian Shok Launcher Because what else is good at taking out a lobster? Bum rushing them with rookies armed with power tools.
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Aug 20, 2016 11:09
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One minor point: The Spark weapon doesn't need Gauss weapon research to be upgraded - it can be upgraded along with the rifle. This is quite nice, as it gives early access to 2 points of shredding per shot. Although this depends on the spark actually being able to hit something. Jade Star posted:
Guava makes a good point here: combine waypoints with wrecking ball to take away cover from multiple enemies. I never thought of that, and now I want to try it.
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Aug 25, 2016 23:06
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One thing I like about the Viper King mission is Bradford. He went into combat himself to rescue the commander, and it seems he'd do the same for Dr Vahlen. It also shows how much his character has changed over the years... Bradford in XCOM:EU: "Close Range?!?" Bradford in XCOM:EW: Knocks out a mind-controlled guy with a pistol. Bradford in XCOM2: Now carrying a knife. Bradford in XCOM2 DLC: Reaper-specced ranger. Jake Solomon originally said he'd never bring snakemen back. But he didn't say anything about snakewomen. And snakemen is a plural word, so he's allowed to have one. I guess we can expect one more appearance from the king, considering how bad Jade beat him up this time. (...and no more appearances from his snek jailbait squad. Those things appear only in the special mission). The lone male member (hurr hurr, I said "member") of the sexiest species in the galaxy is likely to be extremely busy, and we should consider ourselves honoured if the viper king can find time away from his extremely busy schedule to beat up on XCOM.
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Sep 21, 2016 20:40
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SugarAddict posted:Could you have attempted to hack the other lightpost before you ended the mission? The best way to deal with this would have been to clear up the aliens, then go for the lamp posts, and shoot the relay last. Shooting the relay is an automatic hit, regardless of how many defense bonuses it has on it.
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Sep 25, 2016 11:40
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Zomborgon posted:Screw using actions, get actions with the magic that is AWC Run and Gun (aka, sit in place, reload and gun). Run+gun snipers are fantastic. One of the best tricks is getting a Death From Above kill, then using run+gun. The sniper then has 2 actions and can shoot again.
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Sep 26, 2016 08:26
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Oh, how we love to hate codexes. I think giving them dodge was particularly evil, since it can turn a kill shot into another codex clone. Thanks, Jake. I think mopping up clones was the one of the intended uses for Reaper, but really, it's better to give a ranger Rapid Fire instead - two shotgun blasts to the face tends to stop the clone problem before it starts.
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Oct 9, 2016 00:51
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Jenner posted:Oh dear more enemies with female features. If there is not already a giant breasts mod its implementation has now become inevitable. And we haven't even seen a female Muton yet.
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Oct 10, 2016 18:42
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"In this game there are always many things for you to do, and you never have enough time to do them or stuff to do them with" Perfect review.
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Oct 10, 2016 23:26
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Some nice AWC skills there: Shredder on a sniper: outstanding. Hail of bullets on a specialist: who needs Combat Protocol? Blast padding on a ranger: well, uhh, it's like Bulwark except it doesn't cause Guavamoment to whine about accidentally granting full cover to the bad guys. But the best bonus skill pick-up here is Hunter's Instinct in the gorilla tactics school. It's unlocked by getting a ranger to Captain, and while the Hulkster is on a long vacation, all rangers can benefit from it. +3 shotgun damage means even minimum shotgun damage can be a guaranteed kill against weaker enemies, and that's before it starts getting silly with specialized ammo and Rapid Fire.
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Oct 19, 2016 20:51
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White Coke posted:Are there any missions/mission types they can't show up on? They can't show up in the Shen's Last Gift mission. They also can't show up in Gatecrasher or in the tutorial missions. That's about it. I think the way it works is: any time the game makes a viper (or one of the other two spoilery alien types), it might make the appropriate ruler instead.
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Oct 19, 2016 21:14
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| # ¿ May 11, 2024 15:01 |
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monster on a stick posted:They can even show up in the Avenger Defense mission by default which is just That was patched. They can still appear in those missions, they just can't force you to lose by sitting on the ramp and having too many HP to be killed in one turn. I think that was the correct nerf.
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Oct 19, 2016 21:30
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There's a mod to disable that but it can also disable the rulers showing up entirely.