XCOM: Enemy Unknown

sin0city

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

That I didn't know.

I only had the one PSI soldier, a squaddie, after testing all my entire roster, so I'm forced to bring him on the last mission. I don't fancy mollycoddling him, so I think I'll just start the whole game again and play it properly with what I know now.

Don't think I'm ready for the tension of ironman though.

Next time try and get the increased will upgrade in officer training school early enough. This helps increase soldiers will as they're promoted and afaik high will is linked with psi ability.

My first playthrough was normal and not ironman but I restarted when I got my ass handed to me at the alien base. Even only that far in I'd learned a lot so to up the difficulty a little I went normal ironman.
The tension really does make it more fun too

Cravez

In regards Slingshot and the council missions. Once you have the DLC and whenever you get a next council mission, it gives you the option to either start the Slingshot council missions or to choose a normal council mission. If you choose Slingshot then your next three council missions in a row will be Slingshot based council missions. The three missions happen a bit more frequently than normal ones (you'll do two of the missions in one month, maybe even all of them)

Once you finish the first council mission you get a soldier added to the barracks, unfortunately you can't customise him like other soldiers and I think he is permanently a Heavy class.

The missions are hard enough and if you choose Slingshot missions first you'll encounter Mutons, Cyberdiscs and Chrysalids earlier on in the game.

sin0city

Michael Cravez wrote: »

In regards Slingshot and the council missions. Once you have the DLC and whenever you get a next council mission, it gives you the option to either start the Slingshot council missions or to choose a normal council mission. If you choose Slingshot then your next three council missions in a row will be Slingshot based council missions. The three missions happen a bit more frequently than normal ones (you'll do two of the missions in one month, maybe even all of them)

Once you finish the first council mission you get a soldier added to the barracks, unfortunately you can't customise him like other soldiers and I think he is permanently a Heavy class.

The missions are hard enough and if you choose Slingshot missions first you'll encounter Mutons, Cyberdiscs and Chrysalids earlier on in the game.

Might be a bit of a massacre in the first month on classic.
If I don't choose it will it keep coming up every month until I do?

ShadowHearth

What's the difference in classic? I already playing iron man on normal, but find it waaaaay to easy.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

classic is brutally unfair

Cravez

sin0city wrote: »

Might be a bit of a massacre in the first month on classic.
If I don't choose it will it keep coming up every month until I do?

I think so, I think if you don't choose it the first time it will ask if you want to do Slingshot the second time, third time etc so you probably don't have to choose it right away. You do however get access to high tech early on if you choose Slingshot early on, for example the last mission is on a battleship so the tech from the Battleship will open up Research for better aircraft weapons and the better rocket launcher as well.

ShadowHearth wrote: »

What's the difference in classic? I already playing iron man on normal, but find it waaaaay to easy.

Modifiers are changed for aliens (think it's specific per alien) for e.g some of them will do higher damage (sectoids do 4 damage instead of 3), some have higher aim, some have higher critical chance, some have higher HP etc.

The Alien AI is unshackled is well so basically they are going to be smarter in Classic than they are in normal mode. I also think the restriction for the amount of aliens that can attack a single soldier is lifted so basically all aliens can attack one of your soldiers if they wish. (it is restricted to 5 aliens on Normal)

degrassinoel

sin0city wrote: »

Might be a bit of a massacre in the first month on classic.
If I don't choose it will it keep coming up every month until I do?

It's do-able quite early in the game without tier 2 or 3 weapons and armour, the rewards in general make it worth it, especially the last mission!

sin0city

From a 2k games thread:

Easy:
1. Base global panic starts at 0
2. Most alien activity only raises panic by 1 in left unchecked
3. Your soldiers have 1 bonus hitpoint
4. Aliens are dumber, and there aren't as many of them
5. Soldiers cost $10

Normal:
1. Base global panic starts at 0
2. Most minor alien activity raises panic by 1 in left unchecked with some events doing up to 3
3. Your soldiers have no bonus hitpoints
4. Aliens have their AI mostly unshackled
5. Soldiers cost $10

Classic:
1. Base global panic starts at 8 (1 per location)
2. If unchecked alien activity causes at least 1 panic, but will often cause 2 or 3
3. Your soldiers have -1 hitpoint
4. All aliens receive bonuses hit hitpoints, accuracy, critical change and / or damage.
5. Alien AI is unshackled
6. You receive no officer training school
7. There are even more aliens per map
8. Soldiers cost $15

Impossible:
1. Base global panic starts at 16 (2 per location)
2. If unchecked alien activity causes at least 2 panic, but will often cause even more
3. Your soldiers have -2 hitpoints
4. All aliens receive bonuses hit hitpoints, accuracy, critical change and / or damage.
5. Alien AI is unshackled
6. You receive no officer training school
7. There are even more aliens per map
8. Soldiers cost $15

sin0city

degrassinoel wrote: »

It's do-able quite early in the game without tier 2 or 3 weapons and armour, the rewards in general make it worth it, especially the last mission!

Might as well give it a shot so. If I mess it up I'm only one month in if I restart. Gonna miss the higher tier stuff though. Ghost armour, hover SHIVS and Archangel armour are really cool and give you so many options.

Sarky

There is something immensely satisfying about a Colonel sniper in Archangel armour. Create your own damn high ground, get all the bonuses. ^_^

Cravez

Anyone tried Multiplayer? Tried a Private match over Christmas with a Mate and it was immensely buggy. Once I finished my first turn my mate wasn't able to do anything, the whole game just froze and lagged out. It also took forever for it to actually create and go into game.

I tried Public matches as well but literally no games were online, is no one playing it online because of the buggyness?

sin0city

Sarky wrote: »

There is something immensely satisfying about a Colonel sniper in Archangel armour. Create your own damn high ground, get all the bonuses. ^_^

Yup. Add squadsight, damn good ground and double tap and there's dead aliens all over the shop

Azza

I tried one multiplayer game and it worked fine on my end by my opponent reported problems with his units being unresponsive. Not played enough to form an impression about how good it is or how balanced it is. But its nice being able to play as the aliens.

Cravez

Azza wrote: »

I tried one multiplayer game and it worked fine on my end by my opponent reported problems with his units being unresponsive. Not played enough to form an impression about how good it is or how balanced it is. But its nice being able to play as the aliens.

Pretty much same issue we had, I had first turn so I was able to move my soldiers fine but my mate wasn't able to move his soldiers or do anything at all.

NeoSlicerZ

I never found the weapons to be the problem on classic, even when mutons came in. I soldiered on with normal weapons. Chryssaids/Mutons/Berzerkers are doable even with bad guns. You absolutely need the assault and heavy double shot talents though. Skip laser though, prohibitive research times. The main problem is planning out how you're going to have an uninterrupted gravy train of satellites going. Just need to be an utter positioning nazi.

ShaneU

Wow I am surprisingly good at this!

Alien Base Mission

...Half my squad dead It just threw three chrysalids at me and they have ten health each, didn't stand a chance.

sin0city

Sniper with a pistol on overwatch just saved my whole squad from complete annihilation on the last mission on ironman. Heart in mouth s*it.

Think it's the only game I've played that I was thinking about starting again as the credits rolled.

super_furry

Finally picked it up today. Only €30 in Gamestop, which for them is an amazingly good deal. Just finding my feet over the first few missions and I can already see this becoming a massive timesink.

sin0city

Michael Cravez wrote: »

Anyone tried Multiplayer? Tried a Private match over Christmas with a Mate and it was immensely buggy. Once I finished my first turn my mate wasn't able to do anything, the whole game just froze and lagged out. It also took forever for it to actually create and go into game.

I tried Public matches as well but literally no games were online, is no one playing it online because of the buggyness?

Haven't tried a private game but first time I tried a public game I got an endless loading screen. After that it worked fine. Got matched in a few seconds and no problems during games.

Azza wrote: »

But its nice being able to play as the aliens.

It is really nice being able to play as the aliens. Controlling a Cyberdisc rocks. It's great having no idea what sort of squad makeup your opponent has either and the time limit works well.

You could also spend ages putting your squad together before you play a game. There are so many possible combinations and for ranked matches you are limited to 10000 points so it's challenging enough to put together a balanced squad. Really best to have it sorted before you start a game.

ShadowHearth

Just finished it on normal iron man. Loved it.

I havent lost a single soldier in last mission. I have to say that some other misisons were a lot more harder then last one. Just a tip to anyone who is still in it - train a good sniper!

Azza

ShadowHearth wrote:

Just finished it on normal iron man. Loved it.

I havent lost a single soldier in last mission. I have to say that some other misisons were a lot more harder then last one. Just a tip to anyone who is still in it - train a good sniper!

Classic Ironman mode is waiting to make you its B***H.

ShadowHearth

Azza wrote: »

Classic Ironman mode is waiting to make you its B***H.

*gets his bottle of lube on the table in front him.


LETS DO THIS!!! :pac:

ShaneU

Game just locked up on me when I was about to finish a mission, so annoying

Nody

ShadowHearth wrote: »

*gets his bottle of lube on the table in front him.


LETS DO THIS!!! :pac:

A single bottle? Good to see you're an optimist :pac:.

ShadowHearth

Nody wrote: »

A single bottle? Good to see you're an optimist :pac:.

Family size pack! :pac:

Azza

Still an optimist.

penev10

Have just started playing this, about 4 hours in, and am loving it. Excellent structure to the game between the base building / resource management / soldier upgrades etc.

Is the Slingshot DLC worth getting now or should I wait until I beat the game?

Cravez

penev10 wrote: »

Have just started playing this, about 4 hours in, and am loving it. Excellent structure to the game between the base building / resource management / soldier upgrades etc.

Is the Slingshot DLC worth getting now or should I wait until I beat the game?

It's worth getting now if you want to get it, the Slingshot council missions can be done at anytime when a council mission is available and then the DLC adds additional armor deco's and helmets. You can pick it up from GreenmanGaming cheaper as they usually have 20-30% off coupons regularly to use against titles.

Jonny7

sin0city wrote: »

Sniper with a pistol on overwatch just saved my whole squad from complete annihilation on the last mission on ironman. Heart in mouth s*it.

Think it's the only game I've played that I was thinking about starting again as the credits rolled.

The first xcom gave me that same urge.. they finally did a good job

super_furry

Just cheesed it for the first time there and reloaded a save because I couldn't stand to lose my main Sniper - Irish soldier Clare Doyle. It's daft how attached you get to your squad.