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Well I'm curious what's going to happen. Definitely gonna throw my vote to Rush MECs because I wanna see how that works. And I'll sign up as a support. Even if said support will probably have to become a robot.
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Jun 6, 2019 00:59
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| # ? May 2, 2024 14:28 |
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Long War is in spirit about the same as doing Terror from the Deep on highest difficulty. Only not quite as soul numbing. So, we *will* go on the front lines. And a lot of us will die. And then their replacements will die. Until you have a surviving semi core you desperately try and keep alive as they continue to be exhausted, develop terrible mental traumas due to confrontations with alien eldritch abominations, and you have to keep on praying that you can keep the Council Nations solvent, hold enough soldiers to be able to counter the worst alien missions, let good people die because you know you can't take a mission and the country will fall.. Long War is suffering. Long, hard, agonizing. When you win, you BLEED for it. If you don't win.. You BLEED for it.
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Jun 6, 2019 05:18
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I'll sign up as any soldier. Rushing MECs sounds the most interesting from an LP point of view.
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Jun 6, 2019 10:26
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 Still working on some of the audio issues; bear with me. FairGame fucked around with this message at 16:24 on Jun 8, 2019 |
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Jun 6, 2019 13:14
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Ha ha, I cracked up after the first overwatch managed to mow down an entire pod. An auspicious start!
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Jun 6, 2019 15:01
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God, that audio is terrible. I've got a couple ideas on how to fix it, though none of them were present in the base management video either. Will do my best to get it right. Apologies, and thanks for the patience.
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Jun 6, 2019 16:06
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Bunkers up and destroys a few packs without a hitch -> one or two packs refuse to walk into the death trap -> gets bored and moves up ahead recklessly -> takes unnecessary losses Yup, that's X-COM all right.
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Jun 6, 2019 16:59
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I'm a big fan of XCom and I enjoyed that first video. I'm a big fan of MECs, too. I'd like to name a soldier, but not after myself. Name him Charles Radbourn. Of course, if he ends up getting MEC'ed, I'd be delighted.
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Jun 6, 2019 17:28
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  All subsequent videos will combine strategic + tactical layer. FairGame fucked around with this message at 16:25 on Jun 8, 2019 |
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Jun 6, 2019 22:43
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Hooray for being the crutch character for a team of rookies. Looks like Long War added new nationalities to the mix, too, I did some research on flags and my lass is from Uzbekistan. Agreed that the RNG hosed you on the base layout. I'm not sure how I feel about Long War dividing the classes up like that. Feels like granularity for the sake of granularity, though I guess it makes sense that they decided some X or Y talent choices just couldn't be balanced for some that are that drat good, like Lightning Reflexes and Squad Sight. Drones being an early game enemy isn't something I was expecting, but I guess it makes sense. Mixes up the early game, but if they're anything like seekers I imagine they'll be a real pain to kill at times. The equipment, though... that's really giving me "options for the sake of options" vibes. But I guess there are some people who crave having a million options all subtly different so they can wring every last advantage they can out of the system.
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Jun 7, 2019 00:24
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Sign me up to knife aliens. Melee all day baby!
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Jun 7, 2019 00:30
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GrandmaParty posted:Sign me up to knife aliens. Melee all day baby! Alas, that’s not a thing in XCOM1. But if you wait a few in game months (probably like 60 updates or something nuts) you could be a giant robot who punches aliens through walls and bursts into areas like the drat KOOL-AID MAN In other news, I “solved” the mic issue for the next update by accidentally muting the ingame sound. It’s a short mission, at least. Issue seems well and truly solved thereafter. I should have gone to the tech support fort. This was just arrogant and stupid on my part. If there’s a saving grace here, it’s that in the long run, probably less than three percent of updates will have rubbish sound.
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Jun 7, 2019 01:19
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I was bored and I'm curious just how long the Long War is, so here's the kill tally for the first two missions. I think I'll try to keep a running tally if you don't mind. Sectoids: 16 Drones: 3 Total: 19 Cythereal fucked around with this message at 03:19 on Jun 7, 2019 |
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Jun 7, 2019 02:24
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Cythereal posted:I was bored and I'm curious just how long the Long War is, so here's the kill tally for the first two missions. I think I'll try to keep a running tally if you don't mind. You’re gonna lose count, but by all means give it a shot. After each autopsy we do, I will make a “better know your enemy” post about that unit, its abilities, strengths, weaknesses, and how to deal with it. There ARE strategies that aren’t “blow everything up.”
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Jun 7, 2019 02:37
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You can sign me up as someone with mobility in mind.
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Jun 7, 2019 05:00
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OK, now you made me do it, you made me buy X-COM and install Long War. If I ragethrow my screen out the window, it's entirely your fault. Also, go Keef! Somehow I wouldn not be surprised if the real life Keith Richards died in combat with aliens. After all, he is a street fighting man.
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Jun 8, 2019 08:32
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Send me out chief!! Mostly because I have played these games before and if I don't promote soon I'm doomed 
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Jun 8, 2019 12:53
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 ...in which I solved the audio by accidentally losing the game audio. Hope you like the sound of my voice, because I don't!
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Jun 8, 2019 18:50
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Edit: Nevermind. I spaced out for a sec, apparently. Sectoids: 23 Drones: 6 Total: 29
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Jun 8, 2019 19:27
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"kw0134 will join the team for his first mission!" ears perk up "next time!" 
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Jun 8, 2019 19:29
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So running into a courtyard and lobbing grenades like a maniac means I'm natural sniper material? Not going to complain about that.
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Jun 10, 2019 12:34
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Crazy Achmed posted:So running into a courtyard and lobbing grenades like a maniac means I'm natural sniper material? Not going to complain about that. In that you should be kept far away from the actual combat, yes. Also, lol, you let blonde russian lady me supervise rookies and have explosives. How did this not go way worse. (Lucky grouping with the drones, but generally really well played!)
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Jun 10, 2019 23:36
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 Hooray! Audio is fixed now! And soon you'll get higher resolution video.
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Jun 12, 2019 01:12
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I'm not dead yet, and I was useful!  So far this is a treat to watch. But please, Australian Me, stop sucking on that lemon and look less sour for two seconds. Killing malevolent energy beings is fun.
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Jun 12, 2019 01:43
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X-COM Kill Tally Sectoids: 25 Drones: 11 Outsiders: 1 Total: 37
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Jun 12, 2019 02:07
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quote:...you want to not trigger the Outsider, because he's going to call in all the other aliens on the map... Oooooor be a cool guy and immediately activate the Outsider to engage Maximum Party Time because it's absolutely the most frantic, fun way to play a mission. I only do this because I don't play Ironman on Long War edit:  , you then immediately did it. This is a way more fun play style than I've seen on XCOM LPs lately.
Akratic Method fucked around with this message at 04:42 on Jun 12, 2019 |
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Jun 12, 2019 04:40
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Man you've got a lot of Engineers. Grenades for days.
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Jun 12, 2019 06:40
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Aside from the alien computers, what else do we need to rush MECs? A ton of meld and spacebucks? And scientist staff/facilities to research all the tech, I guess.
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Jun 12, 2019 13:37
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Tuxedo Ted posted:Aside from the alien computers, what else do we need to rush MECs? A ton of meld and spacebucks? And scientist staff/facilities to research all the tech, I guess. MECs are pretty interesting, because they don't use that many resources that compete with other things--meaning other than a SHITLOAD of research to get them going early, it's a perfectly viable rush target. From a research standpoint (and I'll get more into this as we unlock the research projects in videos; I'm presently in early June in the campaign because I'm playing faster than I post), you need to have the following research done for MECs: 1.) Xenobiology, which was our first research; it gives council requests for scientists and it's typically the ONLY thing you can research after the opening mission. 2.) Xenogenetics (prereq is xenobiology). This unlocks the genetics lab, but since we're not rushing gene mods it's not really all that important other than "we need this to get MECs" 3.) Alien Materials, which will be our second research. It unlocks council requests for meld, alloys, and elerium, and also lets us start building alloy plating (a small item that gives +2HP; given that we're not gonna have better armor for a while it's a nice thing to have.) On campaigns where you get a UFO on like Day 1, it's smart to switch your research over to alien materials. We didn't have that opportunity in this campaign. 4.) Alien Computers, which you've already noted. Alien computers also lets you start autopsies on the purely mechanical enemies that the aliens field, one of which unlocks some really good stuff. 5.) Alien Biocybernetics (xenogenetics, alien materials, and alien computers are all prerequisites). This research takes a LONG time, but once it's done you can start creating MECs. You can also autopsy aliens that are part flesh, part machine--which unlocks some really good stuff that we're going to need. Now, what's interesting about this rush: pretty much none of the research above unlocks new stuff for your engineering team to build. The aforementioned alloy plating is pretty much the only item that will help you on the tactical game with the research above. Meaning that you're going to be going with all of XCOM's initial kit for 3-4 months while you finish your rush target. That means there's no reason to build workshops (which unlike vanilla's "they give you engineers" iteration, instead give you discounts on $ and alloys/elerium when you build stuff) early on. So you can spend all your money on interceptors, research labs, steam vents, and so on. You just have to figure out a way to survive. MECs themselves are crazy expensive when it comes to meld. A MEC trooper needs a exosuit in order to fight--otherwise it's just some poor bastard who had his/her arms/legs chopped off. The first level of MEC exosuit costs a very reasonable $150 spacebucks, 30 elerium, 30 alloys, and 30 meld. Not so bad. But remember: there's a fatigue mechanic in Long War. Meaning if you're going to be able to keep that exosuit staffed, you will need 4-5 MEC troopers. Turning a soldier into a MEC is where all your resources go. It costs $40 spacebucks and 60 meld to turn a soldier into a MEC. Oh, and the soldier loses 1 rank upon conversion. So a corporal turns into a lance corporal, and so on. Thus, putting our first fully staffed MEC on the field is going to cost us somewhere in the neighborhood of... 300 meld (60 meld * 4.5 soldiers, plus 30 for the suit) 330 spacebucks (150 for the suit + 40 * 4.5 soldiers) 4-5 ranks at a time where we're going to be just barely maybe able to get enough ranks to hit Squad Size II before a critical date on July 1. It's a LOT. Oh, and we'll probably want to build a flamethrower for our MEC, so that's another 30 meld and like 100 spacebucks. Doesn't really touch our elerium stores or our alloy stores, which is what we'll be using to gear up our fleshy soldiers. But it's insanely expensive and the reason I'm playing so fast and loose on missions is because I need all the meld I can possibly get if the rush is going to work. If we can't staff our first exosuit by the time the research is available, we'll have wasted the first 3-4 months of the campaign.
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Jun 12, 2019 16:40
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Kudos for not losing anyone yet. I realize I may have just jinxed it. Oh, well. Also, a question. I remember in the original XCOM (the one from the 90s), you could shoot down UFOs over water, meaning there was no follow-up mission since they kinda just sank. Is this still possible in Long War and/or XCOM:EU? I don't remember if I ever saw that.
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Jun 12, 2019 17:51
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POsibr posted:Kudos for not losing anyone yet. I realize I may have just jinxed it. Oh, well. I'll cover this in a few updates, but... You're kind of asking 2 questions here: 1.) Is it possible to shoot a UFO down over water? Yes, it is. But the game treats it as "the UFO miraculously crashed on an island, I guess." This is true of both vanilla XCOM:EU/EW and Long War. 2.) Is it possible to shoot down a UFO and not get a follow-up mission? Yes, it is. Each UFO has a set amount of HP (which we can see once we do the relevant research; we won't for a while). Each interceptor weapon does a range of damage the same way that our soldier guns do a range of damage (there's also a chance to crit, but it's all wrapped up with armor penetration and I don't really understand it.) Anyway, if your killing blow on the UFO takes it well past its 0 HP limit (think the "overkill" mechanic in a lot of other games), the UFO just straight up gets blown up. No mission, because there's just a few little chunks of spacecraft left. You get a bounty from the XCOM council for this--$100 for small ships, $200 for mediums, higher for anything larger but we won't be shooting large ships down for a WHILE. And you get like...5 alloys or whatever. But no mission. Which means no meld. And no promotions. And no corpses. Basically, a UFO destruction is only slightly better than an escaped UFO and the opportunity cost is enormous. The destruction mechanic is unique to Long War. All shootdowns in vanilla will spawn a crash site mission. And, uh...people have died. It'll still be a little bit before we see it, but there are absolutely names on the memorial. Most of them are bad luck; a couple are my fault due to greed/impatience/bad play.
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Jun 12, 2019 18:34
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FairGame posted:I'll cover this in a few updates, but... Long War just seems intent on making the geoscape as tedious and miserable as possible. I've heard lots of bitching about the air war specifically even from people who otherwise like the mod. I've wondered for a while if there's a mod for regular X-COM to make the geoscape a cakewalk while making the battlescape classic or impossible difficulty. I love X-COM's battlescape, especially in this first game, but loathe the geoscape.
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Jun 12, 2019 20:06
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Cythereal posted:Long War just seems intent on making the geoscape as tedious and miserable as possible. I've heard lots of bitching about the air war specifically even from people who otherwise like the mod. Honestly? The air war is fine. Or at least as fine as anything else in Long War; it's absolutely not for everyone and I think if I didn't have OCD tendencies I wouldn't enjoy it. Remember all those things I listed in the OP about "what should be our initial tech path?" You've got choices as to how you deal with the air war, too: 1.) Just brute force the hell out of it with ALL THE INTERCEPTORS. Spend all your money on planes, which will slowly recoup your money because more crashes = more loot = lower alien resources = fewer dead people and loss of xp and loot 2.) Rush lasers. Laser cannons on interceptors do a lot of damage, and vastly increase your chance to hit. So much so that you can get away with relatively few interceptors across a few continents, just flying defensive sorties, and still do pretty well 3.) Rush gauss. There's an early foundry project that's available as soon as you hit gauss (~ late May in a Gauss rush) that turns your piddling early air weapons into massively powerful cannons 4.) Rush MECs. Once you've rushed MECs, you've got access to a floater autopsy, and you'll have like 230932903290 dead floaters that you can turn into aim modules somehow and take the RNG out of the air game. Is it irritating when you fail an intercept or two due to bad RNG, or you destroy instead of crash, or a nasty crit eats one of your expensive planes? Sure. But for the most part you can tilt it in your favor. And there are SO MANY UFOs that missing one or two isn't really the end of the world.
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Jun 12, 2019 20:48
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I can't wait to die gloriously in battle 
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Jun 13, 2019 18:43
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I'm down to be a soldier. I hope this LP manages to make it further into the endgame than the last long war LP.
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Jun 13, 2019 21:00
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ManlyGrunting posted:I can't wait to die gloriously in battle I'm fine with dying, I just want an open casket funeral.
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Jun 13, 2019 21:30
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Jun 14, 2019 01:58
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X-COM Kill Tally Sectoids: 30 Drones: 12 Outsiders: 2 Total: 44
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Jun 14, 2019 03:28
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Haven't caught up yet, so I won't be reading for a bit, to avoid spoilers. But I intend to get there soon. Signing up as Adeline "Dancer" Delacroix, French lady, class irrelevant.
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Jun 14, 2019 03:40
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| # ? May 2, 2024 14:28 |
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Can you put a list in the OP of agents and their status?
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Jun 14, 2019 08:14
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