XCOM: Enemy Unknown

ancapailldorcha

Anyone got any tips for Ironman Impossible or even Impossible? Beaten Classic and nearly wrapped up Classic Ironman but Impossible is a lot tougher than I anticipated.

srsly78

It's all about the first month. As above try to get 3 satellites built and deployed. Second month is brutal then, if you can get over that you are fine.

As for ironman impossible, just be VERY VERY lucky! Lots of restarting involved. People have beaten it... I could only beat normal impossible, with a ridiculous amount of savescum.

That first mission where you meet the wounded exalt survivor.... Lots of thinmen that just own your troops. There is a bit where you open the door and there is a big ambush. Put 2 heavies on either side of door in advance, end turn. Next turn open door, take out both groups with rockets

DeVore

Spare a thought then for my poor band of merry men (actually mostly ladies!) who have been fighting 4-handed with just ordinary weapons for the past 6-8 months waiting for plasma guns!

This experience has taught me that laser, while crap, is actually an important step. Once you meet Muton's ordinary weapons just wont cut it without risking losses. Without laser, anything robotic becomes a Boss-Fight
The research time for Plasma is just too long and even when you get them you wont have stockpiled enough Elerium (not to mention money!) for the sniper rifles (you can try to steal the assault rifles).
So my advice is tech up to laser quickly but keep the pressure on to get to plasma.

My team is starting to tick now... I've gotten one plasma rifles and given it to my best sniper. I have one assault and one sniper genetically enhanced to have mimetic skin and I have all the snipers up at the top level (two "In The Zone" and one Double Tap).

I want to get to the stage where everyone has mimetic skin and improved legs and then just go mental on the flanking. I am going to try squads of 2 Assault and 2 Snipers or 1 & 3, or all four snipers and see which works best. I have a feeling all four snipers is going to be awesome to play

I might record some videos but that would also give away how much save scumming I do .... lol.

ancapailldorcha

srsly78 wrote: »

It's all about the first month. As above try to get 3 satellites built and deployed. Second month is brutal then, if you can get over that you are fine.

As for ironman impossible, just be VERY VERY lucky! Lots of restarting involved. People have beaten it... I could only beat normal impossible, with a ridiculous amount of savescum.

That first mission where you meet the wounded exalt survivor.... Lots of thinmen that just own your troops. There is a bit where you open the door and there is a big ambush. Put 2 heavies on either side of door in advance, end turn. Next turn open door, take out both groups with rockets

I actually won my first 3 battles in II with only one casualty but on the portent mission, I accidentally threw a grenade at my only 2 ranked soldiers (sniper and support). The Thin Men were merciless.
My problem is that my troops keep getting killed, sometimes even when hunkered down behind full cover.

Shiminay

I wish you could attach a SCOPE to MEC troopers They can't hit jack and they run out of ammo so quickly, it feels like a double tax in some ways. But dat flamethrower...

DeVore

I found the close-combat-mecs excellent... for those times when you absolutely, definitely, positively must do 18 points of damage.


The cover-removal shot is awesome too. I found it difficult not to go "peek a boo!" every time I removed some poor suckers cover

Tenger

srsly78 wrote: »

It's all about the first month. As above try to get 3 satellites built and deployed. Second month is brutal then, if you can get over that you are fine....

This seems to be the best start....you need those 3 sats in place to be able to get over Month 2.

And as DeVore says.....plasma may be the endgame but you still need the assistance of Laser. I started keeping 1 arc thrower in my squad just to nab the odd discarded laser weapon....every little bit saved helps later on.

Shiminay

One of the useful features of ToolBoks (and again, I recommend using this only after you've given the game a run through in it's original form because it really is very good) is that you can place Arc Throwers in place of pistols, so all my Assault troops always have one and then can take either SCOPE or Grenades (or both if you research the harness in the Forge).

I need to start playing around with the new flavours of grenades to see what they're like. I have found myself using regulars (and alien when I've researched them) a lot more this play through.

srsly78

Shiminay wrote: »

I wish you could attach a SCOPE to MEC troopers They can't hit jack and they run out of ammo so quickly, it feels like a double tax in some ways. But dat flamethrower...

Mec troopers retain their pre-conversion aim. So level your dudes up first, then convert the ones with high aim! If you convert squaddies with bad aim then you will have mek with bad aim.

DeVore

Thats interesting because I put some pretty high end soldiers into my MECs and they still shot worse than I would have expected... maybe there is an inherent weapon-related penalty? This would explain why the same snipers I have with Lazer and Plasma rifles suddenly are getting 100's now when they got lower %'s with regular weapons... hard to tease out from soldier progression though.

Angron

Shiminay wrote: »

I wish you could attach a SCOPE to MEC troopers They can't hit jack and they run out of ammo so quickly, it feels like a double tax in some ways. But dat flamethrower...

I like the KSM. It's like having a Power Fist

srsly78

DeVore wrote: »

Thats interesting because I put some pretty high end soldiers into my MECs and they still shot worse than I would have expected... maybe there is an inherent weapon-related penalty? This would explain why the same snipers I have with Lazer and Plasma rifles suddenly are getting 100's now when they got lower %'s with regular weapons... hard to tease out from soldier progression though.

You can see all the percentage modifiers that apply. The soldiers base aim stat is the main one. Snipers often have extra bonuses from scope and high ground etc. Meks don't get as much +aim when they level up, this is why it's bad to convert low level guys (unless you rolled lucky and got some squaddies with ninja aim).

But your RNG is broken so clearly none of this applies :P

Also note that the stat increase from levelling up differs amongst the classes. Snipers are most likely to get lots of +aim when they level up. Use the "not created equal" start setting to randomise stats more.

Zulu

is no one else having a freeze-crash nightmare with enemy within? its breaking my heart - and not in a good xcom way.

DeVore

So, now I've gotten to the point where the only challenge is that I'm doing this with 4 guys (going for the achievement of not expanding the squad size).

All four have mimetic skin which has lead to some very interesting insights into what the aliens do when they arent shooting at us. my squad can pretty much zip around the place unseen and choose when they want to appear.

Some groups of aliens patrol in what seems like preset paths, others wander randomly and others never move an inch.

If you can, send someone with Mimetic skin as the covert op... makes using those EXALT hacking stations a doddle and that knocks out all exalt weapons for a turn. You can run up to it, trigger it and run off back into cover in the same round. Ideally an assault with the move perk. Using them you can pretty much keep Exalt reloading constantly as you run from one to another within two turns.


I've yet to do the Alien base mission because prior to Plasma and the skills I needed this team was struggling with a single Muton Elite. So, I've a bit of the campaign to do yet but right now nothing is a challenge really. I'm deliberately activating more aliens in order to give my snipers something else to shoot at.

The record so far is 6 kills in one turn. My sniper found himself looking at two units huddled around the fountain in the fountain/park level. Assault guy grenaded the fountain leaving them in no cover. Sniper guy goes postal on them killing one after another In The Zone (which doesnt count a shot as a move if you kill provided they were flanked or not in cover). All six dead, he moves to a new spot to re-hide and reloads.

Felt like James Bond meets Jason Bourne


One thing is that the Squad Sight skill is very weird. It sometimes give me the most impossible shots... and other times doesnt let me snipe an alien who is clearly in sight and standing next to one of my guys. I'm going to see how it works out when I have flying armour but right now, she's likely to get cut in favour of another In The Zoner.

DeVore

"It just got hot in here..."



Trying to record what happens next ... not sure it wants to play ball but lets see if I can

Patser

Just to make us all feel very inadequate here's an article on a guy who finished a perfect game - on impossible.....ironman.....without losing a soldier.....with a 4 man squad.....or a country.

I hate him

http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/01/31/worlds-best-xcom-player-how-zemalf-beat-enemy-within-on-impossible-ironman-with-zero-deaths/?ns_campaign=article-feed&ns_mchannel=ref&ns_source=steam&ns_linkname=0&ns_fee=0

TheChrisD

DeVore wrote: »

One thing is that the Squad Sight skill is very weird. It sometimes give me the most impossible shots... and other times doesnt let me snipe an alien who is clearly in sight and standing next to one of my guys. I'm going to see how it works out when I have flying armour but right now, she's likely to get cut in favour of another In The Zoner.

Squadsight's a bit meh, when you realise it has the same sort of line of sight bugginess that you get with Overwatch every now and then. Snapshot can be better for flexibility, especially if you're running both Not Created Equally and Hidden Potential - you can end up with Snipers with absurd amounts of base aim. I've had 137 base aim on a Sniper with the usual complement of scope, Snapshot, Damn Good Ground, Depth Perception, and Muscle Fiber Density just haul ass around maps blowing plasma holes in everything in sight. 150 kills in 37 missions.

DeVore

So, I videoed the slaughter that ensured after , on my phone! (tried to use CamStudio and a few others but all just recorded black screens...)

Kinda shows how over powered snipers with plasma and In The Zone are...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC9JGkzSOaM

DeVore

TheChrisD wrote: »

Squadsight's a bit meh, when you realise it has the same sort of line of sight bugginess that you get with Overwatch every now and then. Snapshot can be better for flexibility, especially if you're running both Not Created Equally and Hidden Potential - you can end up with Snipers with absurd amounts of base aim. I've had 137 base aim on a Sniper with the usual complement of scope, Snapshot, Damn Good Ground, Depth Perception, and Muscle Fiber Density just haul ass around maps blowing plasma holes in everything in sight. 150 kills in 37 missions.

Yeah absolutely. Thats not to say that Squad Sight has been completely useless, its saved my bacon a couple of times. But often I will be left thinking "how the hell does that have line of sight?!" while at other times there an enemy practically on top of them that they cant see. I'm hoping that my shiny new ArchAngel armour is going to help out.
I mostly favour squad sight for small ufo landings because the forest/environment bits offer lots of opportunities and few obstructions. But inside a big UFO or a base, its not a lot of help.
With mimetic skin my squadsight sniper tends to be the first through the door since she needs a turn to rest before shooting.

Angron

Just played a decent chunk of the game there, decided to give mimetic skin to one of my snipers that I send on the undercover ops and it's so useful. Managed to hack two beacons without her getting spotted. Also gave her the leg gene-mod so getting to high ground is that little bit easier. Just in the process of researching plasma weapons now.

TheChrisD

DeVore wrote: »

So, I videoed the slaughter that ensured after , on my phone! (tried to use CamStudio and a few others but all just recorded black screens...)

Kinda shows how over powered snipers with plasma and In The Zone are...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC9JGkzSOaM

One Flamethrower MEC in a good position, and all that would've been dead with one hit.

DeVore

I have tried flamers on the previous run through and didnt find them all that useful. Narrow firing arc (wouldnt have hit both the Sectoids and the Crysalids imho) and not huge damage in my experience... (could it do the required 14 points of damage to a Floater at that range?)

Shiminay

The starting damage for the flamer is 8 or 9 which is great for clearing a cluster of Exhault at a capture point or a stack of low level aliens (but they tend to separate quite well when they've been revealed. When bumped to 14 then you're getting a greater return obviously, but I think it's possibly less useful than having that mega punch to guarantee the kill of a powerful enemy.

DeVore

Thats mostly why I keep the Assault guy in the team. The sniper hits hard but if it doesnt put the enemy down, or its in cover, then its just one shot. A properly tooled up and specced Assault with an Alloy Shotgun can pretty much Run, Gun and Double shoot anything into the dust.

I particularly like to shoot Elite Mutons and have them charge only to be finished off by the Close Combat perk. Free shots ftw!

For taking down the big robotic guys, the assault is really worth it. The sniper can kill the flying pests without costing a move, shoot the robot (once) and then have the assault charge him down. Plus the Lightening Reflexes perk is just a godsend at times.

I will probably go for four snipers for the finale, just for the sheer perversion of it, but the assault guy still kicks ass.

kowloon

The flamethrower doesn't seem all that useful to me but the grenade launcher on the MECs is the business. Are people going for MECs and gene mods or focusing on the one? I think I need another playthrough to try in the zone and mimetic skin.

DeVore

I think probably the game is pretty well balanced to support any kind of strategy. It seems like all upgrade paths have their uses in situations. I would imagine a carefully played team of all four (augmented) troup types, with both kinds of mecs seems like it would be able to respond to any threat if used strategically.
I havent used SHIVs, like... ever. Does anyone find them useful?

ancapailldorcha

If you have the resources to spare, then yes, I do think SHIVs can be useful. They can move a larger distance than you'd think (thanks to the upgrades), can suppress, function as a half cover element and are completely immune to psionics, including mind control. With the sentinel drone upgrade, they can repair 2 damage per turn and will gain a reaction shot against any enemy which closes to within 4 tiles. The hover SHIV can fly, gaining significant boosts to accuracy and making suppression more useful.
Finally, SHIVs make excellent diversions, escorts for weaker troops and sacrificial lambs should the need arise. Their hardened trait adds a 60% reduction to the chance of suffering a critical hit and they don't level up so the loss of one isn't nearly as bad as losing, say a squadsight sniper as you can simply buy another.

kowloon

I haven't given the SHIVs a fair go, mainly because I never used weapons platforms in the original game. I should really give them a shot.

Sarky

SHIVs can be quite fun. Psychic enemies don't know what to do with them at all as they have no mind to attack. Sent one in after an Ethereal and the poor bastard just wandered around it a bit.

degrassinoel

Sarky wrote: »

SHIVs can be quite fun. Psychic enemies don't know what to do with them at all as they have no mind to attack. Sent one in after an Ethereal and the poor bastard just wandered around it a bit.

What do i do, what do i doooo?!

nice, the one and only seriously underused piece of equipment in my arsenal in xcom