greydan

XCOM Enemy Unknown

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It has tons of options to make the game both faster and easier (still bit too slow for me).

 

Dynamic War (updated version of NSLW, with balance fixes that address previously mentioned flaws (although to correct that flaw, it was actually in your favor as fatigue and repair timers didn't scale while missions and UFOs came in less frequently so they offset this nerf against player by giving you way more resources))

Cinematic Mode (+15 aim)

Friendly Sky (+ aim to aircrafts, forgot exact number)

We Are Legion (starts with 2+ squad size upgrades)

 

Cause without those you just have to play way more cautiously than even the orginal Xcom 2012 for a campaign that lasts longer.  So just turn those on for much more faster and forgiving (still lot less forgiving than most contemporary games) campaign.

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Ah cheers. I was looking at those and wondering. I did get a few missions in last night. The equipment, squad size & no of aliens does appear nicely balanced. So far fairly standard XCOM tactics have worked but I've been careful not to pop too any aliens pods at once. That could get very messy very quickly.

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The amount of Meld you get from containers is a rough guide of how well the aliens are doing resources-wise. If you see that number sharply increasing, you might be in trouble. It certainly recoverable, but it's a good warning sign.

As for Dynamic war, last I played event missions and EXALT missions still occurred at the regular pace, even though soldier fatigue timers were doubled, creating a case where I had three missions in one month and ran out of available soldiers. If that's been fixed, it might be worth it, I dunno.

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Yeah I got that last night. Couldn't do the Chinese DLC. Mission for love nor money (is the thin man acid spit supposed to trigger on both action at the end of the turn? That's a lot of panic checks and make that mission nigh on impossible I reckon) and then made 52 meld in one mission. Not a good sign.

I'm going to abort in any case. It's a total time sink and my current job means I'm out of the house for 13 hours each day so I'm not getting enough sleep! My fault, I have no self control for games like XCOM so I'll have to take the rather more drastic step of uninstalling.

What that means for XCOM 2 I'll have to assess nearer the time....

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I've decided I want to beat Xcom. I've put well over 100 hours into it and have never finished it. Can someone give me advice, because it's usually about the same point that I bow out.

 

Robots. The robots start appearing and I can't deal with them. They just obliterate every team I have. To combat this, I started rotating people more and more, to the point that I almost always have a rookie in my squad, and I've got a good team of soldiers who can replace anyone. 

 

Usually I like to run with a lot of assault classes, but this run (I'm about to assault the alien base) I've been unlucky and only had 2 assault people. I've had to adjust my tactics accordingly, but I feel like I've lost my killing power.

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are you playing vanilla/EW, not long war right?

 

If you have EW you got MECs as a major option (or stealth gene mod that breaks the game), otherwise by the time robots show up you should have some nice snipers with squad sight built up, and heavies with HEAT for some consistent result with rockets (or double try of low accuracy but high damage fire).

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I'm playing vanilla. I'm not a fan of snipers, I tend to bring one, but they're completely useless until they get squad sight, so I find it hard to rationalise leveling them up. 

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I'm playing vanilla. I'm not a fan of snipers, I tend to bring one, but they're completely useless until they get squad sight, so I find it hard to rationalise leveling them up. 

I found them super useful, and near the end of the game they become peerless killing machines. Two of my snipers cleared out the entire EXAULT base.

 

I usually keep them a little behind the squad or up on a roof to provide overwatch support for the squad.

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I found snipers great for doing high damage on important targets. I might have accidentally specced to give them great equipment.

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Yeah, they're great once they level up, but before they do, they're useless. I almost never get a kill using a squaddie sniper, which makes me not want to bring them. Also due to their lack of manoeuvrability, it's easy to get them separated from the group. That could be mitigated by bringing two snipers to cover each other though. 

 

In close quarters like bases, I've found the sniper to be absolutely useless. Can't seem to find a good position for them. If it's a nice open area they are gods.

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Past a certain point, my standard loadout would be 2 heavies, 2 snipers, a support and an assault.  Late game the damage that they can throw out, particularly on robots, is essential.  Even early and mid game, the 2-3 rockets they have have make a huge difference.

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Past a certain point, my standard loadout would be 2 heavies, 2 snipers, a support and an assault.  Late game the damage that they can throw out, particularly on robots, is essential.  Even early and mid game, the 2-3 rockets they have have make a huge difference.

Heavies are great for pulling your squad out of bad situations. I would avoid using rockets because they destroy materials, but if things start going badly BLOW EVERYTHING UP!

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Past a certain point, my standard loadout would be 2 heavies, 2 snipers, a support and an assault.  Late game the damage that they can throw out, particularly on robots, is essential.  Even early and mid game, the 2-3 rockets they have have make a huge difference.

 

That was my typical lineup usually too. Or I might have a 2nd support over a 2nd heavy based on circumstances, but always 2 snipers.

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I generally run 2 heavies, 2 assault, 1 sniper and 1 support. Occasionally changing that to 3 heavies 3 assault. Maybe I should take more snipers...

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Heavies are great for pulling your squad out of bad situations. I would avoid using rockets because they destroy materials, but if things start going badly BLOW EVERYTHING UP!

 

Rockets are the best!  On Classic Ironman, grenades and rockets usually went towards destroying cover of tougher enemies so my other units could get a guaranteed kill.  I had one dedicated Grenadier on my last playthrough who had 6(!) grenades thanks to the Roulette option.

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Rockets are the best!  On Classic Ironman, grenades and rockets usually went towards destroying cover of tougher enemies so my other units could get a guaranteed kill.  I had one dedicated Grenadier on my last playthrough who had 6(!) grenades thanks to the Roulette option.

That end game rocket launcher is insane, I missed unlocking in my first playthrough, but i love watching that little plasma ball fly.

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I've decided I want to beat Xcom. I've put well over 100 hours into it and have never finished it. Can someone give me advice, because it's usually about the same point that I bow out.

 

Robots. The robots start appearing and I can't deal with them. They just obliterate every team I have. To combat this, I started rotating people more and more, to the point that I almost always have a rookie in my squad, and I've got a good team of soldiers who can replace anyone. 

 

Usually I like to run with a lot of assault classes, but this run (I'm about to assault the alien base) I've been unlucky and only had 2 assault people. I've had to adjust my tactics accordingly, but I feel like I've lost my killing power.

 

As I recall, Heavies unlock a perk that lets them do a ton of damage to robotic enemies. That's what got me through; that perk lets you one-shot all but the toughest robots.

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As I recall, Heavies unlock a perk that lets them do a ton of damage to robotic enemies. That's what got me through; that perk lets you one-shot all but the toughest robots.

It was great for this flying disc enemies.

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As I recall, Heavies unlock a perk that lets them do a ton of damage to robotic enemies. That's what got me through; that perk lets you one-shot all but the toughest robots.

 

Yeah, I was skipping it on my previous play throughs, but I've been picking it every time now. The other perk isn't that great anyway. I've also been taking holo-targeting for them, which has been amazingly helpful.

 

How important are the weapon upgrades? Before I'd always research laser then plasma, but the laser isn't that much of an upgrade really. Not sure if it's actually worth it.

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Laser is pretty clutch IMO.  You can skip it on normal but on classic/impossible that extra damage is very handy.

Laser seems to improve accuracy a lot more than it improves damage. At least that's how it felt.

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I have only the vaguest knowledge but when I went to my high end sniper rifles I was destroying enemies in one shot so I was kinda weapon focused.

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