XCOM Enemy Unknown

[brkl]

I want a confirm dialog for moving to somewhere without cover. That happens so rarely it wouldn't be annoying, but when you accidentally do it you die.

[Badfinger]

I haven't gotten the will to load the game since I lost my Colonel. I don't think I was playing XCOM the right way.

[Erkki]

Wow, after discovering I had more satellites available than I thought (forgot to build some after I built the nexus I think) and now after getting 3 continents covered I'm swimming in cash!

[Erkki]

Wow, after discovering I had more satellites available than I thought (forgot to build some after I built the nexus I think) and now after getting 3 continents covered I'm swimming in cash!

Not to worry! A bug in game caused me to go into negative credits (or is there a legitimate situation when that might occur?); of course I saved over the previous save before I noticed. At least I got to build most of the weapons/armor I wanted and full satellite coverage before that happened.

[Sno]

I also found it somewhat weird that the aliens seem to just wait for you until you step into their radius -- stepping 1 more square to the left than you should can sometimes make the battle several times more difficult as you reveal a new group. However, I think they actually do move around on the field, at least in the UFO missions. I've actually made some UFO missions much easier for myself by being VERY patient (and boring). I literally waited 10 or so turns on overwatch until some enemies came out of the ship and exposed themselves. So I think the AI is not as patient as I am

They do move around the field a bit in normal, mostly on terror missions, but it's on classic difficulty where they really start roaming.

I had a real trouble shooting down UFOs at some point (about the same time I had to shoot down the overseer). I failed to shoot down about 10 altogether, even earning grade D in one month. I did several upgrades: Phoenix Cannon, Laser Cannon, the temporary boosts etc., but those didn't help at all. After two months, I finally was able to build Plasma Cannon, which DID help, and now I just shot down the overseer and cleaned it out without taking much damage.

That's weird, it shouldn't be that hard to shoot things down that early in the game, that doesn't sound right. Have you been advancing the timeline a bunch to get monthly funding? The invasion might have ramped up while you were twiddling your thumbs. (Edit: I guess i don't know how far in you are, i'm assuming early goings since you didn't have any weapons researched for your fighters.)

Not to worry! A bug in game caused me to go into negative credits (or is there a legitimate situation when that might occur?); of course I saved over the previous save before I noticed. At least I got to build most of the weapons/armor I wanted and full satellite coverage before that happened.

Your monthly expenses might have exceeded your income, check your finances in the situation room.

[brkl]

I have a hard time believing that they roam considering how many times a group has just appeared next to my dudes.

[Erkki]

Your monthly expenses might have exceeded your income, check your finances in the situation room.

That's not the case. it happened in the middle of the month. And as I said earlier, suddenly I had a lot of money coming in the previous monthly report (~1200). I actually did see this bug happen in real time some time earlier -- I bought something from engineering and the UI got stuck somehow and things started going negative. I reloaded after that, but failed to notice when it happened again.

[Erkki]

Hmm... at the monthly council report, I go "mismanaged resources"... so maybe it's not a bug but something else I'm not aware of. There was a pending request I couldn't fulfill (they asked for 6 (SIX) cyberdisc corpses, maybe it was that)

[Gormongous]

So the first proper DLC has been announced... and it's a set of three scripted missions, with a fully voiced character as a reward? Really? Seems to me like the same genius at the 2K office responsible for XCOM the shooter is sticking his fingers in this pie.

Scripted story missions for a strategy game, seriously...

[Twig]

Whoa, hold on. XCOM the shooter could still be fantastic. Just because this DLC is shit doesn't mean a completely separate game is or that they're at all related. XCOM as a shooter is not inherently a bad idea. Closed-mindedness is no longer necessary now that they've released this game.

Although the fact that they're reworking it as a third-person shooter is worrying, just because that's rarely a good sign.

[brkl]

XCOM as a shooter gets a free pass now that they actually made a proper XCOM.

[Gormongous]

I'm not bagging on XCOM the shooter. I'm bagging on the exec who saw the old X-Com and said to himself, "This would make a great linear storyline." It's something of a leap, more so now that we have a modern XCOM that's at its best when allowing the systems to take the fore.

[Twig]

Who's to say XCOM the shooter won't be incredibly systems-intensive? We still don't know much about it. Less than we did before it turned into a third-person shooter.

That aside, I've always been a huge proponent of creating different games with different styles and different stories within the same world. It's always a shame when a fun world is "wasted" on a single game that may or may not actually be any good. But... this is going way off topic, so I'll shut up now. U:

[Gormongous]

So we can all agree that this DLC seems a bit wrongheaded, at least? I mean, I find myself unintentionally avoiding the storyline in XCOM, which has made my games probably a bit harder than otherwise.

[Irishjohn]

It does seem a bit... weak.

[Twig]

Well, I haven't played it, but it seems kind of lame.

I'm all for the idea of short, specific scenarios (AKA "challenges") in a game like this. Another example might be Civ scenarios, I guess. Unfortunately, more often than not, they fall flat and leave me wanting. When they work, they work well, but when they don't...

[Gormongous]

Well, they promise that this'll drop "seamlessly" into your existing campaign, so not challenges, per se. I agree that one-off missions would be much less of a missed opportunity.

[Badfinger]

Well, I haven't played it, but it seems kind of lame.

I'm all for the idea of short, specific scenarios (AKA "challenges") in a game like this. Another example might be Civ scenarios, I guess. Unfortunately, more often than not, they fall flat and leave me wanting. When they work, they work well, but when they don't...

Agreed, I don't think EVERYTHING in the new XCOM game has to drop right into the overarching single player structure. I think you could have sub-games that are just tactics/challenges. Listening to the Giant Bombcast today, one of them suggested he'd love a Horde Mode-type scenario where you pick 6 soldiers and the game keeps throwing enemies at you until you're dead. I think there are multiple ways that could be an awesome little side mode. I think you could have an all strategic game mode. The game is robust enough it can be segmented out and be a complete experience.

In theory XCOM multiplayer seems like a neat idea, but in practice it's a really neat idea that actually works! It's gratifying that that piece of the game is genuinely satisfying.

[TychoCelchuuu]

I'm not bagging on XCOM the shooter. I'm bagging on the exec who saw the old X-Com and said to himself, "This would make a great linear storyline." It's something of a leap, more so now that we have a modern XCOM that's at its best when allowing the systems to take the fore.

To be fair, it wasn't a linear shooter. You could pull out of the missions at any time, it seemed like, and there is/was a risk/reward mechanism: stick around to try to collect more alien artifacts, at the risk of dying, or leave with what you've already secured to keep you and your squad from dying. To be fair to whoever made the original decision, they looked at X-COM and said "this whole investigating invading aliens and then turning their tech against them by commanding a squad of agents that grow over time and that are managed from a home base you are in charge of sounds like something people might like, but maybe making it a shooter would appeal to a crowd larger than 8 people."

[Erkki]

Finished it. Normal was definitely on the easy side and I might play another game in Classic Ironman mode (maybe with the mod that was mentioned here).

[Gormongous]

God bless Tom Chick for pointing this out:

[Irishjohn]

And God bless you for bringing it to my attention!

[coaxmetal]

Ahhhh game breaking bugs. I just was sending out interceptors to take down a thing, and before the interceptor reached the thing, a terror mission (in Lyons, France, where all terror missions are) popped up. So I did it. When the skyranger returned to base, it immediately switched back to the interceptor chasing the ship. When it got to the ship, the game made as if to show me the interceptor combat view, but instead just shows me the blank globe. Dang.

I guess i'll probably have to go back to a save before I accepted that mission. Which is a real shame because it went super well.

[Erkki]

Classic Ironman is way too brutal for me. After 5 or 6 missions (2 of which failed) I had lost 10 men, and was left with 6 rookies or so. The one-shot kills by the aliens are just way too annoying, I think I will just try Normal Ironman.

[Roswell47]

I think I'm done with XCOM, played it for about 20 hours. The more I played of it and thereby the better i became, the less I enjoyed playing it. It just comes down to luck with the shots when you know how to play properly and that sucks.