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As far as mechanics discussion, what are your preferences for keeping things blind? I figure full on minmax build plans is on one end, and correcting things you've misread or misassumed is on the other, but I'm not sure where things fall such as "here's the actual mechanics behind this ability the game's a bit vague on" or "(ability you unlocked) works well with (class gimmick you know about)."
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Jan 10, 2019 20:05
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Bruceski posted:As far as mechanics discussion, what are your preferences for keeping things blind? I figure full on minmax build plans is on one end, and correcting things you've misread or misassumed is on the other, but I'm not sure where things fall such as "here's the actual mechanics behind this ability the game's a bit vague on" or "(ability you unlocked) works well with (class gimmick you know about)." So this is a bit of a blurred line as you've rightly pointed out. Don't suggest synergies between abilities. I think that's something we should figure out on our own. And unless the mechanic is obviously meant to be understood don't tell us what's going on behind it. I think the best way is to imagine that XCOM is an old Snes game with a fairly sparse manual and after every recording I go to the manual to check out things I don't get.
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Jan 10, 2019 20:16
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fair 'nuff
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Jan 10, 2019 20:30
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Jan 12, 2019 00:01
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Veteran difficulty
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Jan 12, 2019 00:22
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I was wondering how the hell I was still alive after EDIT:   EDIT2: also, appropriately enough, Snorlax got promoted into a Grenadier...the class with the lowest accuracy in the game, but the highest resilience. May his portable distortion field keep him safe for evermore. Spoiled since the video is just out! That Italian Guy fucked around with this message at 00:34 on Jan 12, 2019 |
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Jan 12, 2019 00:24
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That Italian Guy posted:I was wondering how the hell I was still alive after I think that's reverse  !This opening mission is brutal on any difficulty setting. If you hadn't figured out how good grenades are, or how flanking shots work, your campaign would have ended here. Concrats commanders, you guys made the cut!
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Jan 12, 2019 00:53
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Lesson one of XCOM: things cascade quickly.
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Jan 12, 2019 01:07
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Can I get the first robut soldier, using the Dreadnought voice pack?
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Jan 12, 2019 01:59
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I do so wish that my other submitted character was the one to show up early, in the "Nat and Tea get everyone killed" missions  Use the submission link in the OP to submit characters!
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Jan 12, 2019 02:00
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GeneX posted:I do so wish that my other submitted character was the one to show up early, in the "Nat and Tea get everyone killed" missions Dunno how I missed that, will do!
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Jan 12, 2019 02:16
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Natural 20 posted:"Thread, you can tell me if I'm right or wrong about this, but this seems ridiculous." It was a bit rough for a starting mission, but in the spirit of brutal honesty, it's mostly that you have no idea how to play and this game isn't holding your hand. An x-com veteran probably could have handled that mission fairly well. Despite what people may joke about X-Com slaughtering soldiers, actually losing soldiers should normally be fairly rare.
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Jan 12, 2019 03:26
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Nat20 that was painful to watch. I loved every minute of it, but whoof. Once you have a handle on the mechanics of the game it should go better for you though
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Jan 12, 2019 03:32
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I didn't catch if you caught the error later, but one mistake in a comment about flanking that's really going to burn you down the line: A yellow icon on a guy indicates they are flanked by *somebody*, but that gives no advantage to everyone else. Just the unit with a flanking shot to the target gets the benefit.
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Jan 12, 2019 03:52
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What a dramatic showdown at the end of the mission, wow And here comes Ma Ferguson! 
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Jan 12, 2019 04:36
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The world is so wonderfully, wonderfully doomed. You guys sound so excited and terrified.
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Jan 12, 2019 05:08
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Congrats! You've passed the introduction and the mission you were about to start at the end of that video was the beginning of the regular game. As far as tactics, well, you play like it's a blind run, but you pulled out a win. The exploding truck giveth and the exploding truck taketh away. As far as advice I can give without spoiling anything, I'd say think carefully about damage minimums and who you can kill with which attacks. Definitely follow your impulse from the end of that last mission to use grenades for a sure thing when possible. (There's also a more advanced use for grenades that I'll let you figure out.) Watch for that eye icon under a health bar, that means the enemy is on overwatch. And remember what enemies can do what as best you can. The biggest balancing acts in a missions are:
Also, here's a weird fact that the UI will just never tell you for some reason. (They added a message about it in the expansion so they know it's weird to never tell the player.) Technically you haven't seen it in action yet (but could have--all the relevant elements were in that last mission) so I'll put it in spoilers for you to read or not as you judge: Sectoids are weak to swords. I have no idea why, no other enemy in the game has anything like that. Edit: I submitted a character. She was randomly generated for me in my first campaign and something about her and the skills and items I put on her just added up to a merciless-killer image so I went with it. If she turns up, and the stuff in question turns up, I'll point it out. Akratic Method fucked around with this message at 11:10 on Jan 12, 2019 |
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Jan 12, 2019 06:38
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Akratic Method posted:Sectoids are weak to swords. I have no idea why, no other enemy in the game has anything like that. I mean, they're running around in the buff! Really basic mechanics tip, but just in case: Keep in mind that you do not have to use both of a soldiers actions before moving to a different one. You can and absolutely should move your dudes to where you want them this turn, and then assess the situation before deciding to shoot/overwatch/etc. Also, make sure you check out the engineering bay whenever you have a new item that you can build. Minor item spoiler: Flashbangs have a bunch of interactions that I'm not sure the game actually tells you about, they're extremely useful.
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Jan 12, 2019 07:27
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 Pierre Bosquet posted:C’est magnifique, mais ce n’est pas la guerre: c'est de la folie.
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Jan 12, 2019 07:40
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Akratic Method posted:Sectoids are weak to swords. I have no idea why, no other enemy in the game has anything like that. Everything is weak to swords! 
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Jan 12, 2019 08:16
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Hey, good job guys.  This is every bit as entertaining as I expected so far. Casualties are to be expected, I just hope I will live long enough to make a difference.My character does not have backstory sadly, just a mysterious lunatic who showed up one day to fight aliens. Possibly escaped from a mental institution up north. Possibly dangerous. How many troopers have you got in your roster so far? You might need a few.
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Jan 12, 2019 09:16
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Bifauxnen posted:Everything is weak to swords! 
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Jan 12, 2019 09:16
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That was brutal but I'm glad that it wasn't a total loss. One of the things that I learnt from XCom is to not dash into unknown territory, which isn't so easy when you have timed objectives. The new 'roid 'toids are disgustingly OP early on. This game is good at throwing horrible new things at you before you've got a chance to get comfortable with what you're already facing.
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Jan 12, 2019 10:16
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Okay, this was utterly fantastic.
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Jan 12, 2019 10:38
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I appreciate the highly immersive and well-fitting death sound effects.
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Jan 12, 2019 10:51
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I also have a Blood Bowl background, here's some thoughts on the similarities between that game and XCOM: Both games are about risk management and squad cohesion. Some risks just aren't worth taking, and sometimes holding back and not taking a risk means ADVENT will take a risk. The enemy AI is not very risk averse. You also have to be able to concentrate the power of your team to a point. In Blood Bowl, this means having teammates next to each other for assists. In XCOM, it means all of your squad needs to have vision of the area where poo poo is going down. In Blood Bowl, a lone piece will get marked and blocked down. In XCOM, if a unit can't get line of sight to the enemy units, they are pretty much worthless. In both games you absolutely want to figure out what you want to achieve during your turn, before moving any pieces. Moving pieces one by one and reacting to what happens is a very bad plan. Figure out a plan, decide on the moves to make, then execute in the order of least risk involved. There's no Turnover rule in XCOM, but there's all kinds of variations of 'Now my soldier is flanked by an army of aliens and there won't even be a corpse left'. "What is the worst thing that could happen to me in this position?" is a good thought to keep in mind. Blood Bowl has the strategic concept of the 2-1 grind. For those who don't know Blood Bowl, the idea is that it's fine to let the opposing team score once, if it makes it easier for your side to score two times. The strategy part of XCOM kinda works the same way. Fighting tooth and nail in a mission with a faint hope of winning just isn't a good idea. It's a waste of time and resources. Let ADVENT take that one, and you'll be in a much better state to crush the next mission. Losing a mission isn't that big of a deal, losing a mission with a squad wipe is.
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Jan 12, 2019 12:53
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Trasson posted:I appreciate the highly immersive and well-fitting death sound effects. It took me an embarrassing amount of time to edit that stuff in. Totally worth it though.
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Jan 12, 2019 14:47
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StoryTime posted:In both games you absolutely want to figure out what you want to achieve during your turn, before moving any pieces. Moving pieces one by one and reacting to what happens is a very bad plan. Figure out a plan, decide on the moves to make, then execute in the order of least risk involved. There's no Turnover rule in XCOM, but there's all kinds of variations of 'Now my soldier is flanked by an army of aliens and there won't even be a corpse left'. "What is the worst thing that could happen to me in this position?" is a good thought to keep in mind. This one's real important. The biggest risk in XCOM is running into more aliens after you've already committed soldiers to bad positions, which naturally guides what soldiers you want to move first.
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Jan 12, 2019 14:55
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Natural 20 posted:It took me an embarrassing amount of time to edit that stuff in. Totally worth it though.  I hope someone will play the Mario death jingle for my irl death too.
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Jan 12, 2019 15:20
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Between incredible misses (seriously, not being able to hit a Marked soldier with partial cover?) and the Sectoid's self-own against the exploding car, it looks less like luck and more like game taking pity on you. Still, this turned around great!
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Jan 12, 2019 16:06
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Well I just found this and watched the videos done so far, and Will be wonderful to see you guys learn things as you go. Just you wait until you have some gear and leveled troopers so all the tactical options at your disposal start really opening up. Nordick fucked around with this message at 01:56 on Jan 13, 2019 |
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Jan 13, 2019 01:50
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Wow... I can't believe I'm still alive... Happy to be a grenadier though because grenades don't require aim!
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Jan 13, 2019 05:30
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Znorelag posted:Wow... I can't believe I'm still alive... Happy to be a grenadier though because grenades don't require aim! If you've got money to burn, this sort of thing definitely merits a 'he fears no laser bullets' avatar, if only to allow maximum irony when Znorelag dies on his next deployment. (I can't recall if Angry Lobster still has their 'served with honour and clarified butter' av, but it was great.) vdate fucked around with this message at 22:02 on Jan 14, 2019 |
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Jan 13, 2019 19:40
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This LP inspired me to start playing Xcom 2 again. This is one of my random starting characters who is somehow still going:  I feel like submitting him to the pool.
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Jan 13, 2019 20:05
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I'm going to assume the xenos shot first?
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Jan 13, 2019 20:41
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Snorlax was lucky, but that first sectoid encounter wasn't! This was kinda shown during the mission, though you probably didn't notice. Their Mind Spin ability has a range of outcomes, the most severe of which is mind control. It caused Snorlax to panic near the end. It can also be resisted entirely. Tip for dealing with zombies: Killing the sectoid kills the zombie. Dr Christmas fucked around with this message at 19:43 on Jan 14, 2019 |
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Jan 14, 2019 18:40
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[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dybAuxVYH8]
Natural 20 fucked around with this message at 17:29 on Jan 15, 2019 |
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Jan 15, 2019 00:03
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You're learning. As you get used to overwatch and what your team can do your first ambush won't take 20 minutes, either.
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Jan 15, 2019 00:24
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If you want to know if you can see an enemy from a given square, hold down the ALT key while hovering. It'll show you icons indicating which (known) enemies will be visible. Including if they're flanked, in Squadsight range etc etc. I use it constantly. Soul Reaver fucked around with this message at 00:57 on Jan 15, 2019 |
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Jan 15, 2019 00:35
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Soul Reaver posted:If you want to know if you can see an enemy from a given square, hold down the ALT key while hovering. Yeah, this. I think at some point 2 or 3 missions in there's a tooltip that says it ONCE, it's easy to miss and it's really invaluable. You can also turn it always on in the options menu which some people prefer.
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Jan 15, 2019 00:46
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