Bjorn

Nope, that only happens on the first Skulljack that is story related. Skulljacking (it has its own icon) is only used twice in the game, both times story related. Skullmining is an upgrade researched in the Proving Grounds, and once it is unlocked it adds a new Skullmining icon to your actions that can be used once per mission. It has a 70 percent chance to hit. On a miss, it does a guaranteed 2 points of damage. On a hit, you get the option to hack the soldier which seems to always have a minor intel cache as the first option, and either a large intel cache or the location of a hidden facility as the second option. I never go for the second option, as even with a higher level specialist I prefer the almost guaranteed small cache versus the chance of failure of the second one. Even if you fail the hack, it is an auto-kill on the enemy, regardless of hitpoints. I think it can only be used on human shaped enemies. An enemy who is shielded by a shieldbearer seems to always be missed (might be bad luck, but the couple of times I've tried to Skullmine a shielded enemy I've missed). I haven't tried to see if I can put a second Skulljack onto a soldier yet, that could be potentially interesting (I'm betting you can't since most other items are limited to one per type, but maybe).

I'll keep beating the Skullmining drum, and if a player regularly runs 2 specialists, I'd even argue that a second Skulljack would pay for itself. An extra 20 intel a mission is ridiculously valuable, since it can be converted into every other resource in the game and at relatively sane costs, compared to what it costs in supplies to recruit new engineers or soldiers. I suspect that a potential Legendary strategy might be to field multiple Specialists early on and attempt to Skullmine 40-60 intel per mission. A 70 percent shot at an instakill would also help make up for the early inability to one-shot a lot of enemies.

It doesn't sound like you've fucked up the counter management at all, that sounds about normal from my two playthroughs. I've run the counter up to just 2 pips left in each playthrough and then managed to start getting it under control.

I've got a love/hate relationship with that area. I don't think it is a particularly fun area to go through, but I love the design and atmosphere of it.

Bernie crushed it in Kansas (like 68-32), so there's that!

I agree with you there, I think the Ranger is the least valuable class in what it brings to the table, and that subbing any other class would probably be equal or better. I just really like shooting things in the face with a shotgun and slicing and dicing with the sword. A heavy for more 'nades, a second Psychonaut for more domination, another Sniper (on non-timed missions) for high accuracy or even a combat Specialist all ultimately bring more to the table than a Ranger does. The sword should probably just be a guaranteed hit, or one of the sword perks should also add a guaranteed hit or something. I'm also not sure why Reaper has the diminishing damage when Snipers get Serial which does more damage at less risk. Reaper should either be

Fuck, I'm about to get a ranger killed by saying this. I have never missed a sword swing. Also, it I don't know what the proc chance is, but the stun ability of the second sword has a very high rate, to the point that if an enemy survives being hit, I've never not seen it stunned. This includes a Codex, and stunning a Codex prevents her from cloning herself.

Just AP. Other units already have heavy weapons and grenades, I'd suspect that giving them a default armor shredding ability like that would be cutting into the Heavy's role too much. On Rangers, I just can't bring myself to build them any other way than: Blademaster, Shadowstep, Run n Gun, Implacable, Untouchable, and Reaper. The sword is just crazy useful to give it up for occasional stealth bonuses. I've never taken Blademaster though. It doesn't feel like enemies come within melee often enough for it to be worth it, and Implacable lets me play incredibly aggressive and still be able to pull back after a kill. Late game, my rangers already have 100 percent crit rates, so being able to run into an overwatched enemy makes more sense than a one off crit/hit bonus, even if it isn't something I need to do often. Run n Gun is the defining skill of the class for me, like it's not even a thought to not take it. Untouchable is another skill that encourages highly aggressive play while allowing for a relative measure of safety for my Rangers. Reaper and Rapid Fire should probably be a coinflip, but I've only taken Reaper so far. Multi-kills in a round is too awesome, and late game where my Rangers have the 100 percent crit are already doing massive damage, very few things survive a single shotgun blast, let alone a second one. I'm sure a stealth build is useful, but man, it's just too much fun to have a class that can consistently just get right up in groups of aliens grills and walk away from it. After the posts yesterday about Heavies, I ended up taking Holo-targeting on my next level up (just happened to be that level on my backup Heavy). And, yeah, I can see me going with it over Heavy Ordinance. I had one moment where I really wanted that third grenade, but the holo-targeting did come in handy several times, giving me some flexibility on positioning other troops I might not have had otherwise (and great for taking down a flying archon).

I did that all the way up until I had a good Psychonaut. At that point, I started running more or less this squad: Ranger - Non-stealth options (blade, run-n-gun, etc) Heavy - Explosives Sniper - Sniper tree Specialist - Hybrid Psychonaut And the 6th slot would go to whatever I felt was most valuable for the mission, but more often than not it was my Pistol Sniper with Bluescreen ammo to finish off weakened enemies and murderize the fuck out of robots. Bluescreen Ammo + her triple shot is so fucking good against robots. Edited to add: I am very disappointed someone hasn't made a mod yet to be able and skin Psi soldiers as Raz.

That's a good point, in the final mission, which is the longest mission, my heavy was out of 'nades halfway through. The machine gun path would have ended up being the far more valuable path for that mission alone, and might be worth considering making one machine gun specialist specifically for it and maybe a couple of other potentially really long missions. I'm curious how y'all build your specialists, as that's the tree that has almost no bad choices in my opinion. My default has become a hybrid of both combat and medic, but specializing in one or the other is really good too. Medical vs Combat Protocols - Both good, remote healing allows for an extra heal and allows for a lot more flexibility in movement since you don't have to put two units next to one another. But Combat protocol once it starts doing 4 damage to organics (eventually 6) is magical, since it is a guaranteed hit at very long range, perfect for finishing off wounded enemies at no risk (you do not need gun line of sight to use Combat Protocol, which is an easy thing to overlook, I've used it before where I did not have a shot on an enemy) . Revival vs Haywire Protocols - Again, both good. Having someone knocked unconcoius is a nightmare on a timed mission, where you then may have to pick them up and lose another person's attacks to carry them. But Haywire is a lifesaver just for knocking that Sectopod out for a round even if you don't take the risk of trying to take it over. Field Medic vs Scanning - Scanning is okay, but its hard to argue against 2 extra heals. I did run one specialist last game who didn't carry a medkit, but ultimately I think Field Medic is the best call in almost all situations. Covering Fire vs Threat Assessment - Both are good, Threat Assessment is amazing for giving a ranger or sniper Overwatch after they've already fired. Covering Fire pairs well with the Specialists Guerilla school passive and both of the next two options though. Threat Assessment stacks with someone who is already on Overwatch, and stacks with Guardian if used on a Specilaist with it (I havne't tried this, but it is what the wiki says, I was double checking it to see if there was anything I didn't understand about these abilities). Ever Vigilant vs Guardian - Ever Vigilant is great, and I've had it show up on two non-Specialists and love it. Guardian won't come into play as often, but is potentially lifesaving and I did see it proc a few times in my previous playthrough. Both pair well with Covering Fire and the GTS passive. I think Ever Vigilant gets the nod though, especially useful on timed missions when you need to advance quickly. Restoration vs Capacitor Discharge - Eeeerrggghhh, these are both so fucking good. Restoration can save a squad wipe. Capacitor can single handedly turn the tables in a bad encounter. I really don't have a set combination I love yet.

My take on all the skills are: I think Salvo just ends up making an explosives build the far superior one, if it didn't exist I'd be more prone to agree with you. My heavies are mostly for knocking down cover and softening up targets for others to finish off. I think the explosives tree favors that role better. Shredding is absolutely better than Blast Protection though, in every way. Shredding is also in the pool for other units to pick up! My sniper just got it in my current playthrough, which is rad as fuck. Demolition vs Suppression is kinda a coinflip, though ultimately I value Suppression more as a way to pin down the occasional troublesome target we don't have any way to take out in a round. Salvo lets you fire twice in a round, but only if a heavy weapon or grenade is fired first. This is a massive increase to the devastation a Heavy can bring to bear. Hail of Bullets just can't hold a candle to an ability that lets a unit do a double attack 3-4 times a mission. Heavy Ordinance lets you get a double shot off an extra time during a mission, that, to me, is more valuable than the Holo-Targeting bonus. By late game, my snipers and Rangers were my units to finish off things, and there were very few times where they needed an extra +15 to do that. That said, it is potentially more value in the early to mid game before you have a variety of aim bonuses to bring into play. I think another reason Holo-Targeting fails for me is that my Heavies are either my first units to fire, because they're using grenades to destroy cover or my last units to fire because they are using Suppression to pin down an enemy the rest of the squad couldn't finish off. Holo-Targeting just doesn't end up playing well with their turn in the firing order generally, for me. Volatile Mix is a fixed increase in damage on an unmissable attack, which is one of the things I value heavies for. Sometimes you just want to know that, no matter what, you're going to do a certain amount of damage. It also increases the average damage per attack by making it even more likely to get an extra one or two enemies within the AoE of the explosion. The AI seems to try and space themselves to keep units from being with the base Grenadier explosion radius, so bumping that up breaks part of their tactics. Plus even more cover destruction. Yah! Chain shot is only valuable if the first shot hits, and it is against an enemy who needs two shots from a Heavy to kill it in the first place. Saturation Fire vs Rupture is a coinfip. Rupture can show up on other classes thanks to the Advanced Warfare place, and it is FUCKING GODLY when a Sniper or Ranger gets it. But it's hard to argue with the multiple target damage that SatFire can do in the right situation. Of course, my personal bias is I really love making things go boom. If I had enough, I'd be tempted to run a mission with all heavies just to make all the things explode.

I don't know what the condition for the Market appearing is, if it's time, research, Intel quantity or what, but it should be showing up very soon for you if you've done six missions. It will show up on the map as a place you have to explore (kill 5 days sitting on the ground next to it), and after that it will be permanently available to visit.

On price, I'm actually excited to see indie games believing that the deliver an experience worthy of the traditional AAA price. Fuck, there are plenty of games that I paid $50-$60 for that have not brought me a fraction of the joy that a lot of $5-$15 indie games have.

Engineers will come as rewards for a small number of missions, they can be bought for supplies from your base (you have to fly there and click the button next to it if you haven't realized there's a store there) or from the Black Market for Intel. Those are the only ways to get more of them. Buying them for Intel is better than buying them for supplies, imo.

We finally finished Limetown this morning (it's taken forever to finish something that's only 6 episodes long, I think because we only wanted to listen to it when we weren't likely to be distracted, half the time our podcasts are just background noise). I loved it, though I was really hoping they wouldn't do a cliffhanger ending.

I think I experienced a really nasty bug tonight, anyone else seen anything like this? All my research and build timers reset from their current time to their original build time. I had just looked at a bunch of my stuff, and was just 1 day out from a supply drop. Gauss Weapons were going to finish researching just seconds after the Supply Drop. The PsiLab was going to get built about 3 days after that. And a Skulljack was at like 4 days in the proving grounds. After going through the summary screen for how the month went with council dude, I looked back at my build queue and Gauss Weapons were at 7 days (original time), Skulljack was at 7 days (original time) and PsiLab was back to something like 9 days (not original time). I also had the timer for clearing debris off an Elerium power thingy reset, though I don't remember the exact numbers (which super blows since it is the longest excavation). This all hurt really bad, since I should have had my Gauss weapons going into my next fight, but I didn't, and things went to hell. Squad got it done, but everyone was Wounded with multiple Gravely Wounded.

Hang out in Slack chat with us (if you don't already, I just never see you)! It's much more relaxed, and we make a lot of poop jokes. I've mostly backed off from the serious threads in the forums for now, mostly because I just don't have the time to get into them right now (like I totally missed this whole thing because I wasn't even reading this thread).

Yeah gorm, I agree about Ivory Crown for sure. Dewar, each of the areas has 3 bosses, two you have to fight and one optional. Each of the optional bosses are really tough, the toughest and most unfair fights in the game, arguably. But the Ivory Crown optional boss is a special level of bullshit. It remains the only boss, in any Souls game, that I have not been able to solo. Each of the optional paths are fairly obvious once you know what you're looking for, they each feature one-way drops you can't return from and have little antechambers with these grave/statue things in them. If you do play, and find yourself getting frustrated by a path like that, definitely the most skippable parts of the game.

The expansion areas of DS2 are arguably the best in the game, and the most creative, each brings something really unique and new to the level design. So overall I'd say they're worth at least checking out, though if you're worried about them burning you out, then yeah, probably best to wait. I'm jonesing for DS3 something fierce. I may have to fire DS2 back up and mess around some at some point this month, once my XCOM 2 runs are finished.

Started up a CommIronman run this evening, and decided to activate a few mods. I was tempted to do some content mods like the SMGs, but ultimately decided I still wanted to play it straight for another run. Stop Wasting My Time - Fucking brill, makes me wonder why the little dramatic pauses were ever there in the first place Evac All Button - Fucking brill Overwatch All Button - Fucking brill Bob Ross Voice Pack - Meh, mildly amusing for a mission, but I'll probably turn it off next time I play, it's just kinda weird and distracting. I already like how much more desperate each fight feels. I'm the worst at enforcing Ironman type play on myself, so even with the risk of a corrupt save, it's still a better way to play to stop me from trying to save soldiers and force me to play carefully to deal with the consequences of my actions.

That's such a good anecdote.

I'd been dying to know what was in that spoiler for two weeks. Now I know! Final mission finally done. It's certainly tougher and more climactic than I remember EU's end being.

New MoO has entered early access. The voice actors video is surprisingly charming:

I've actually drifted pretty far away from space 4x games over the years, to the point that I haven't done more than just mess around now and again, but I havne't finished a campaign of anything in many years. MoO2 has a pretty special place in my heart though, with all night lan games of it against one of my old roomies. If he picks it up, I think it will be no question that I'll give it a go.