X-COM, the remake

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ywhtptgtfo
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Unread postby ywhtptgtfo » 17 Jul 2014, 06:28

Kalah wrote:SPOILERS BELOW:

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Just finished replaying it. The final mission is actually way too easy - too few aliens and the final fight (against 1 Uber Ethereal, 2 Ethereals and 2 Muton Elites) is also quite easy. You just have to go straight for main boss, the "Uber Ethereal", and all the others vanish.
I actually killed the uber-ethereal in 2-hits and boom the game's over. If you want a longer game, download "The Long War" mod from Nexus.

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Unread postby Kalah » 05 Aug 2014, 22:49

I have explored the Squadsight/Snapshot abilties further, and come to the following:

- Snapshot is essential in the early game. It boosts your sniper's ability greatly that he can move to a location when other troops find the aliens, and then shoot in the same turn. Without Snapshot, the sniper is basically useless whenever he moves.
- Squadsight is not as useful in the early game, due to two things: the rifle is not powerful enough, and the sniper can't get to high ground quickly enough.
- In mid-game, Squadsight is downright dangerous, since the rifle's lack of power really becomes a problem against mid-level opponents.
- Squadsight is useless in urban warfare, due to the buildings working as obstacles.
- In the late game (once you have the flight suit and plasma rifle), Squadsight becomes incredibly powerful in combination with the "In the zone" ability. I play a confrontational style, sending assault/support units forward to find the enemy fast. In combination with a sniper with elevation bonus, flying to top level immediately (he doesn't have to move after that, so Snapshot is not needed), and plasma rifle with several shots, it's better than Snapshot.

Conclusion: Snapshot for early-mid game and urban/battleship warfare, Squadsight for late game, especially open areas.
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Unread postby GreatEmerald » 06 Aug 2014, 06:32

Actually, Snap Shot is incredibly useful in the late game, with In The Zone. The reason for that is that once the sniper eliminates all the targets in sight, they can move to another location and continue eliminating more targets. In comparison, a Squadsight sniper that's just floating up at the start of the map is totally dependent on luck whether or not they will be able to see anything at all.

For some really advanced tactics, I recommend watching DefenderOfSoul: http://www.twitch.tv/defenderofsoul/profile
Ideally the past broadcasts, he goes into quite a bit of detail about how his thinking process goes. Which then allows him to achieve ludicrous things, like completing the game on Impossible Ironman with all Second Wave options and only with 4 people in the squad.

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Kalah
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Unread postby Kalah » 06 Aug 2014, 11:03

Indeed, Snapshot is what I usually use. The discussion from earlier was whether Squadsight had any usefulness at all. I have concluded that it does, but mostly in late game.
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Unread postby GreatEmerald » 06 Aug 2014, 12:35

Hah. One of the people I sometimes watch, sa_jadestar, is absolutely convinced that Snap Shot is the most useless skill and never uses it, despite any tries to explain to him that it's not the case :)

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Unread postby Kalah » 06 Aug 2014, 13:11

That's one of the things I realized almost immediately when I started playing the game. Without Snapshot, the sniper cannot move and shoot in the same turn, essentially cutting his effectiveness in half. Once he has Snapshot and In the zone, it more than doubles.
I just don't like playing with Squadsight since it is only effective later, and by that time I'm winning anyway. I guess what I will do is make some Snapshot snipers and then make one Squadsight one after mid-game.

I can also add that some other skills are also a no-brainer in this game.
- Supports need the Sprinter ability over Covering fire, since range is so important.
- Shredder rocket for the Heavies; that extra rocket per mission is absolutely needed.
- Revive over Rifle suppression for the Supports. And Field medic - being able to use the med it 3 times instead of 1? I mean, it's a complete no-brainer... Medics, that's what they are.
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Unread postby Kalah » 07 Aug 2014, 21:58

The new stuff in "Enemy Within" is way cool. Definitely worth the money. :-D

* Upgrading soldiers with gene manipulation or mechanical enhancements is cool,
* The EXALT missions (the "enemy within") are good fun; humans conspiring with the aliens and you have to infiltrate and root out this organization ...
* Base assault! :oex: Something I felt was missing from the standard game; defend your base from enemy incursion. Succeed or die. :scared: :D
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Unread postby GreatEmerald » 08 Aug 2014, 07:50

Yea. Also Training Roulette, that's really awesome.

But the game still has tons of bugs. How Firaxis didn't fix the "pistol looks like a rifle" bug, for instance, is beyond me. Or the fact that you can't bind Hunker Down to a key... Also the soldiers teleporting bug is very lethal, and Enemy Within also opened a whole can of worms with the Mimetic Skin gene mod, because enemy pods are seen but don't get activated, and that's not how they were programmed to work. Back on Enemy Within release I was hoping Firaxis would solve at least some of the bugs, but if anything, they introduced some more...

I still don't know if they improved the netcode or not, but at least the Enemy Unknown one made me shudder. As someone who has some experience with Unreal Engines, I can see that they put exactly zero effort into optimising it, and it's the netcode for an arena shooter, not a turn-based strategy game...

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Re: X-COM, the remake

Unread postby Dalai » 25 Aug 2015, 15:30

XCOM 2 coming out in November 2015. Videos, comments from developers, etc. - it's great. Just great. Most expected game of 2015 for me. :tsup:
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Re: X-COM, the remake

Unread postby Kalah » 25 Aug 2015, 19:14

Mine too. Want want want! :)
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Re: X-COM, the remake

Unread postby Kalah » 31 Aug 2015, 17:24

So, with XCOM 2 post-poned to February, I can't play it for Christmas. Re-installing XCOM 1 now and I'm glad I bought the DVD versions: Steam told me download time was 20 hours, but with the two DVDs, it only took less than one.

Man, I remember the days of old when games grew to the size of having to use 8-12 floppy discs. Then the CD-ROMs arrived. Then the games grew again, just as the DVD-ROM arrived. And now there are games that require two of those ... :creative:
At least this makes me feel sure that there will always be a need for physical copies. That is, unless someone sets up some kind of optical laser internet that enables one to download 10GB games in minutes ...
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Re: X-COM, the remake

Unread postby Dalai » 04 Sep 2015, 17:22

Kalah wrote:So, with XCOM 2 post-poned to February, I can't play it for Christmas. Re-installing XCOM 1 now and I'm glad I bought the DVD versions: Steam told me download time was 20 hours, but with the two DVDs, it only took less than one.
Man, you absolutely must install Long War. It is so go-o-o-o-od!
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Re: X-COM, the remake

Unread postby Kalah » 04 Sep 2015, 20:40

Yeah Ethric raves about that, I guess I have to try it.
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Re: X-COM, the remake

Unread postby Kalah » 03 Mar 2016, 21:50

Started XCOM2 now and so far, it rocks. :-D
Good plot, I think. Not just resisting invasion from aliens, but leading a resistance after they conquered the planet. I like story-driven games and I can't wait to see where this leads. What the Elerians wanted with Earth, for instance, and that "greater challenge" they hinted towards.
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Re: X-COM, the remake

Unread postby Kalah » 04 Mar 2016, 23:48

TT demanded I post some screenshots here, so here they are: the first one of one of my guys who discovered that if you shoot a propane tank, you can take out a houseful of aliens at once. The second one is when I "skulljacked" my first alien - kinda looks like something out of the "Predator" movie. :D

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Re: X-COM, the remake

Unread postby Kalah » 14 Mar 2016, 18:58

I'm on the final mission of XCOM 2. :)

My points of view after playing almost all of it:
  • * I wish the game lasted a bit longer; I didn't even get to control all the world's resistance zones before the final showdown became available.
    * The frustration factor of XCOM 1, of not being able to stop every abduction mission and thus being forced to lose something, is still here in the shape of getting too many missions; you just can't do it all, with missions coming thick and fast.
    * The game seems even more difficult than the first one, at least in the beginning. In the first one, once you get plasma weapons and titan armour, you're going to win everything. Here it seems much the same; as soon as I got some good armour and plasma beam weapons, I'm not losing any more units.
    * I like story driven games, and I really enjoy the story of both XCOM games. :)
Here is a picture of me. The commander takes the field during the final mission! :-D
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Re: X-COM, the remake

Unread postby Kalah » 16 Apr 2016, 18:12

I want to post something more about XCOM2. :)

Here's a nice picture: count the number of zombies around my soldier (who only has 1 hp left :scared: ) and tell me why you think this is a good thing. Bonus points if you can deduce how I avoided the loss of that soldier (he survived).
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Re: X-COM, the remake

Unread postby Kalah » 11 May 2016, 09:04

Nobody got it? :D

Here's the answer: most of these zombies are civilian casualties. They move, but don't punch you. They were killed in a massive blast caused by an alien bomb, and the Gatekeeper woke them all to zombie state. Why this ganging up on my soldier is a good thing? They are actually blocking the alien zombies from making melee attacks. :-D

Here is another shot from the final mission: I take control of one of those pesky floating balls ... :)

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Re: X-COM, the remake

Unread postby Kalah » 06 Jul 2016, 23:28

I just realized I never told you about my first experience on the final mission: How could I forget?

The first time I played XCOM2, I made the mistake of "rushing" through it, relying on manpower over technology. I did eventually get beam weapons, but I never built the heaviest armour and didn't even bring PSI operatives on the final mission. So that last one was really ... REALLY hard. I lost several units, and went into the final battle with the last avatar with low health and low ammo. Enemies kept spawning and I thought there was no way I was going to make it... I targeted the avatars but then I had only two heroes left with active turns, and all those enemies swarming towards us... and once my penultimate hero shot the avatar, it teleported away as it does when it takes damage. So now it will be out of reach, won't it...

Wait, whaaaat!? Is it possible? How can anyone be so lucky? It teleported right over to my ranger, who still has a turn left! Wooo! :applause:

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There it is, the final shot. Man, was it close. You know it's a good game when you're literally jumping up and down, cheering as if your team had just won the championship. :) That ranger was going to die; there were two berserkers able to reach her during their next turns.

2nd playthrough...
I just replayed the game now and this time, I purposely took my time researching the things driving the story forward, making sure I got to promote lots of soldiers, make PSI operatives and build all the best equipment. This time, when I entered the final mission, I found it very easy: two specialists, two really über powerful PSI guys, one sniper and a ramboed-up ranger - I kicked so much butt it's not even true. I also had my commander avatar, so I could mind control and mess with the minds of the enemies; my specialists hacked their way through the heavy cavalry and my ranger could get several kills per turn in "serial" or "reaper" mode. Dimensional rifts took out three or four aliens at once, and I haven't even mentioned my sniper's "kill zone" ability yet ... :D
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Re: X-COM, the remake

Unread postby ThunderTitan » 17 Aug 2016, 20:31

Kalah wrote: TT demanded I post some screenshots here, so here they are:
MUHAHAHAHAHA.... THE POWER, THE POWER!

Also, i really should buy X-Com 2... is the GOTY out yet?
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