XCOM: Enemy Unknown

DeVore

I just finished an Enemy Within normal play through and while I love the game, the balance is off in it. The start was hard and testing, tense hard fights with plenty of tension. Then my snipers leveled up and thats pretty much all she wrote. The game turned from "how can I survive this" to "how can I finish this mission without being shot once.

Quick tip... I gave my sniper the skills/augments that allowed her to move from cover to cover without being seen, to endlessly shoot so long as she killed and the enemy was flanked, to doubletap and to locate aliens without seeing them.

Equip her with a sniper rifle, send her in, scope the area, flank the aliens, bap-bap-bap everything dies.

The rest of the team just sat outside waiting for the call to come in and clean up. I cant imagine what 6 such snipers would do!


I got two mecs in my team in order to experience their play style. I liked them and I didnt find them over powered. They lose the ability to use cover and also the ability to carry items which does degrade them. They didnt seem great with their weapons to me, though maybe that was just those two in particular and the most common things I did with them was to remove cover with their special attack so my sniper could claim a "flanked" shot as per above

The other useful thing they have is that 12 (and later 18!) point hit which is a guaranteed hit and guaranteed damage. Got a pesky Muton commander who wont go down and has rushed your team. Twat him with that. Fun cut sequence too

The flamer, I didnt find much use, nor the grenade launcher or proximity mines. Nice toys but really, 5-8 points of damage at end game is merely a tickle.

Got to the end uber-etheral who was doing his droning on about species (wtf was he talking about, anyone?) and I didnt realise he was special compared to the others so mid-drone my sniper wapped him in the mouth mid sentence

I really liked the extra content, the new enemies and the "enemy within". Seemed like a good purchase and hours of entertainment.
Just wish they would sort out the difficulty balance with this game...

Nody

DeVore wrote: »

Got to the end uber-etheral who was doing his droning on about species (wtf was he talking about, anyone?) and I didnt realise he was special compared to the others so mid-drone my sniper wapped him in the mouth mid sentence

Basically the master race tried to find a race that would ascend to heavens as their gods had done previously and all the races you fight were failed experiments in various ways of trying to find a race to evolve to that point.

Chazz Michael Michaels

I found it rather dull. I must state that I consider the original to be one of the greatest games ever made.

Grimebox

Chazz Michael Michaels wrote: »

I found it rather dull. I must state that I consider the original to be one of the greatest games ever made.

I consider EU to be the game that the original should have been.

Wait, do you mean the old DOS game when you say original?

Chazz Michael Michaels

Grimebox wrote: »

I consider EU to be the game that the original should have been.

Wait, do you mean the old DOS game when you say original?

The latter.

DeVore

I was a huge fan of the original (DOS) game and while I felt they slightly over simplified things (like the movement system and the single base), I really do think the new one (EU/EW) are worthy successors and fine games in their own right.

Hopefully the good sales and reviews will mean they venture a bit further into the Strategy/Turn-based world...

Chazz Michael Michaels

DeVore wrote: »

I was a huge fan of the original (DOS) game and while I felt they slightly over simplified things (like the movement system and the single base), I really do think the new one (EU/EW) are worthy successors and fine games in their own right.

Hopefully the good sales and reviews will mean they venture a bit further into the Strategy/Turn-based world...

OK, I might be wrong, but I thought the original dos EU had the multiple base feature. I seem to clearly recall that.

DeVore

It did... thats what I mean. I preferred when it had multiple bases as you could designate one to be the research base while others were manufacturing plants basically

In trying to appease the lack-of-opposable-thumbs crew named "console gamers"... they did away with multiple bases and granular movement. While normally I subscribe to the "less is more" school of game design, in this case I think less is just, well, less

srsly78

Dev playing on "normal" is not for the pc master race, rather it's for the peasant console gamers. Classic Ironman for proper game experience. You haven't actually played at all it seems.

Impossible Ironman if you are an internet hardman of course.

Grimebox

Pushtrak wrote: »

DeVore wrote: »

Got to the end uber-etheral who was doing his droning on about species (wtf was he talking about, anyone?) and I didnt realise he was special compared to the others so mid-drone my sniper wapped him in the mouth mid sentence

Not sure. I played Enemy Unknown only in the last two months, and it sounded like something that'd be done in a sequel or something. Like something is coming, so they were doing experiments to try to create an army or something. Honestly, I didn't read up on Enemy Within and was sorta hoping that'd be more than it was - something that'd go on with whatever was meant there. Obviously I was very much mistaken on that.

The enemy was trying to create a master race by enslaving various creatures across the universe, each of which you fight throughout the game. The human race (with psi powers) finally becomes what he wanted by the end of the game

ancapailldorcha

srsly78 wrote: »

Dev playing on "normal" is not for the pc master race, rather it's for the peasant console gamers. Classic Ironman for proper game experience. You haven't actually played at all it seems.

Impossible Ironman if you are an internet hardman of course.

Couldn't hack Classic Ironman initially and had to settle for vanilla classic. I've found favor with the RNG God who's bestowed successful shots at ridiculously low percentages upon my squad. I've no idea what I did to earn such benevolence as it ended up with me getting complacent, and as a result, Lt. Zhang paid with his life.

DeVore

srsly78 wrote: »

Dev playing on "normal" is not for the pc master race, rather it's for the peasant console gamers. Classic Ironman for proper game experience. You haven't actually played at all it seems.

Impossible Ironman if you are an internet hardman of course.

I dont have enough time, or hair, to be bothered with that time sink thanks. Might play a Classic regular game though, now that my skills are honed. I'll be trying out my 6 sniper tactic though. Theres really nothing you cant fix with a plasma sniper rifle.

ancapailldorcha

I think Classic Ironman and Impossible Ironman boil down to the first few months in terms of difficulty. If you can get through that initial period winning across the boards, the remainder of the game is a cinch. As I found out recently, that breeds complacency for which the game will punish you enthusiastically.

DeVore

So, I started a Classic regular game last night with the intention of playing either, 6-sniper death squad... or 3 snipers and three rushing Assault. (there is little as satisfying as the feeling of Run-n-Gunning up to some Muton and double-shooting him point blank in the face. )

The idea being that at least 3 of the squad gets camouflage skin (the 3 assaults in the latter experiment) while the remaining three snipers get squad fire and a bonuses to their shots. Run the invisibles in to discover stuff, shoot them with the snipers who stay safely at range.

So far... a lot of rookie deaths as I need an arseload of rookies to skill up to get the snipers I need... so every level I'm running with 4 new rookies and well... mostly thats been fine but the last mission, hmmmm, only one survived

On the plus side... she turned out to be a sniper, so... not all bad

Shiminay

Use Toolboks, train your recruits as snipers instead of leaving it to the random gods.

degrassinoel

Shiminay wrote: »

Use Toolboks, train your recruits as snipers instead of leaving it to the random gods.

That's cheatin' ! lol

jk but it would save a lot of heartache for those poor unfortunate and unlucky rookies

DeVore

Yeah, I've decided to go with 3 Assault and 3 Snipers. I caved on that because training rookie snipers is SUCH A PAIN IN THE HOLE!!!!
I also gave one of the 3 snipers the move-and-fire perk simply because I couldnt bear the lack of mobility on BOTH of my snipers. (currently running a 2 Assault, 2 Sniper squad). Assault really do save the day.

I'm rocketing towards Plasma, skipping Laser entirely and building nothing that doesnt assist with that. I'm half way through my second month and already have the Containment Facility and the Arc Thrower and have 2 aliens awaiting interrogation. I've South America covered with sats for the instant Autopsy/Interrogations. I've Plasma available but its going to be like, 48 days for Light Plasmas because I've no labs.

On the other hand, my guys might as well be running around in their jocks because I've no armour and basic weapons. I've one workshop, no labs, one Satelite facility, one Power Gen and one Containment Fac. I almost screwed myself by not having enough power to dig the lift shaft to access the lovely steam on level 2 where I will build power. Oh the irony.

Money is incredibly tight and I got about 60 bucks for the first month wages! Brazil offered to pay 200 for satelite coverage so, they got priority but now 4 countries are on red with only 3 satelites available to me! Oh well, you cant please everyone I guess

This strat is bound to be rough at the start I guess but should pay dividends when I jump to Plasma tech fast. Till then, they better keep their heads down.

degrassinoel

DeVore wrote: »

I'm rocketing towards Plasma, skipping Laser entirely and building nothing that doesnt assist with that.

EXALT forces will give you tonnes of laser weaponry without you having researched or built any of it.

DeVore

Ah.... I found a flaw in my approach ... was half way through the big research for Light Plasma Weaps when they stole 20 days of research from me!!!! :eek: No Labs means no backups so now I'm back to 33 days to go

I should maybe have tested this approach on Normal first
I have the gene lab up now but I also discovered that my first time round I gave the "invisible" skin to a top end sniper... I didnt realise it works with High Cover only since she treated low cover as high cover... hmmmm...

ancapailldorcha

I've just lost about 4 missions on the trot. Had to leave my best equipment behind as well as my only squadsight sniper and all my troops above sergent. Classic Ironman is fun.

DeVore

I never liked Australia and India anyway.

NORTH1

DeVore wrote: »

I never liked Australia and India anyway.

No more curry and barbies for you then!

Shiminay

degrassinoel wrote: »

That's cheatin' ! lol

jk but it would save a lot of heartache for those poor unfortunate and unlucky rookies

Well for a first play-through, yea, but for a second or third run, especially when you wanna try something different and challenge yourself in a new way, it's a great way to give the game some flexibility.

DeVore

I have to send my computer back to the shop.




Its RNG is broken.

srsly78

Did you enable any of the advanced options? There is a "save scum" one you are probably looking for

Also "training roulette" REALLY mixes things up.

landsleaving

I started playing this on PS3 after reading the thread. Thought it was easy enough. Then 9 mutons and a cyberdisc wiped out 5 of my 6 good soldiers. Had to fight all of them at once. Only a sniper survived and he's out of action for a while.

Fecked. No one left who can shoot straight.

So glad I went for ironman, fun and a real challenge. So few left in games.

ancapailldorcha

landsleaving wrote: »

I started playing this on PS3 after reading the thread. Thought it was easy enough. Then 9 mutons and a cyberdisc wiped out 5 of my 6 good soldiers. Had to fight all of them at once. Only a sniper survived and he's out of action for a while.

Fecked. No one left who can shoot straight.

So glad I went for ironman, fun and a real challenge. So few left in games.

I've beaten Classic without Ironman and it's just not the same when you can just load a save. I've just cleared a few EXALT missions to level up some of my squaddies. EXALT are pitiful compared to the aliens which has worked out in my favor.

DeVore

It absolutely removes the tension and fear but the sheer unfairness of the RNG/randomness frustrates me. Instead I view each level as a puzzle... how can I get through this without losing any health whatsoever. I allow myself reloads if I am critically wounded but the challenge becomes all about the purity of not taking a scratch... which for some reason appeals to me

Anyway, things.... well, they're rough in Devore Land. The bloody french (they're always there when they need you), quit unexpectedly and ran off to appease the aliens. Probably in Vichy.

That makes 5 down with several on the brink. I have plenty of satelites and space for them now so it shouldnt be so bad this turn. We've got light plasmas and I'm working on the proper rifles now. Need my snipers to start to carry their weight now.

I'm finding the Squad Sight not as much help as you might think. It has its moments but the "must have line of sight" thing is constraining it. Once I get flying armour I hope to do better.

I've decided to try for the "finishing without upgrading to 5/6 member squad" achievement simply because there is no way right now I can possibly afford it and I'm unlikely to be able to for quite some time!

I have a bad feeling about this run, I think I may have been too aggressive in getting to Plasma as my interceptors are still basic and I'm running into difficulty shooting down UFOs

Still lets see how we go....

DeVore

Its close here but with 6 countries gone I've pretty much calmed everything down.

Trying to jump directly to plasma, maintain satellites, fend off Exalt, build interceptors, gene-splice soldiers and do all that with only 4 in a squad is tough... so, I caved and researched laser sniper rifles and nicked them from Exalt. Proved to be the winning move!

I just got plasma snipers now, but the cost and the elerium needed is harsh! I have top level snipers now though, and one with mimetic skin and In The Zone.... which is a killer combination if you are patient enough to flank. I've killed 6 mutons with that combo in a single go!

Major Pro Tip
I dunno, maybe someone already spotted this or you are all already doing it buuuttt... give one of your squad mimetic skin. They cant be targetted in high cover then (they go invisible). During the Exalt hacking missions, run them in (fast and early!) into the hacking zone. They can sit there hunkering down for the rest of the game and the poor exalt guys have no idea whats going on and cant capture the hacking point (its contested).

Thats when your squad-sight snipers on a roof a mile away can just ping them off... inbetween smoke breaks.
It works a treat and has turned those difficult "stop them just bailing into the zone" hacking missions into a walk in the park.

srsly78

Even more pro tip: You can do it on impossible without losing a single country, build order is key. Get a satellite uplink built in first month, and 3 satellites finishing on the last day. Then savescum a lot as you tackle impossible aliens without even lazor rifles!

And more: Mimetic skin is good, and even better when comboed with the ability that turns low cover into high cover.