[PC/PS3/360] Xcom Enemy unknown

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Blaat

I've noticed that the difference in difficulty between medium and classic is pretty big. To a point I find medium too easy.

The difficulties are intentionally designed. Normal is for people who want to beat it with some minor resistance, and Classic is for people who want to barely win after losing several funding nations.

And Impossible is for people who like to hit their own heads with a hammer for pleasure.

[MrTerrorist]

Spoiler for Ending:

Wait. So the reason the aliens have been attacking Earth is because they wanted to make humans stronger so they can be their allies to fight a bigger threat? They wasted both sides lives just for that when they could have just allied and shared knowledge with the humans?

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by MrTerrorist

Spoiler for Ending:

Wait. So the reason the aliens have been attacking Earth is because they wanted to make humans stronger so they can be their allies to fight a bigger threat? They wasted both sides lives just for that when they could have just allied and shared knowledge with the humans?

Spoiler for end:

Allied? No, they want to Psionically dominate us. All the enemies are from different planets, alien races who were conquered and altered to suit the Ethereal's purposes. They saw our potential, especially how we ended up making superior weapons when push came to shove. But at no point were we suppose to be equals. They were trying to make us stronger before we were enslaved; they didn't realise we were stronger than they could handle. They were suppose to making the individual nations drop out of Xcom and join them out of fear. YOU, the Commander, stopped that. I love it; that the very existence of Xcom was what threw everything off.

[Dragonkid11]

Spoiler for Ending:

It's like the alien empire played X-COM before and thought that they could exploit it.
We ended up exploiting their technology and kick their asses with it instead

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Now, preliminary review of of Psionics...

I decided that there is no benefit in fielding a Psionic Sniper. Squad Sight doesn't work with psionics, and in general a fully upgraded sniper does more damage with regular attacks.

Psionic Heavy might work, especially if she is too far away to hit reliably. Psionic would be a backup weapon when she can't get closer.

Psionic Assult is nice. The problem is that you might want him to shotgun enemies in the face instead. Being such powerful units means it could be better that you use your RunNGun. Okay as a Psionic but only if RunNGun is on cooldown.

Psionic Support is actually the best in my opinion. The use of assault rifles is reasonable but doesn't beat Psionic attacks. So when possible it would definitely be better to use Psionic when in Assult Rifle range. The normal weapon would be reserved only for fighting robots. Their 4 square bonus movement also made it easier to reposition for long rang Psinic assults where rifles have trouble hitting.
(In short, Support makes the best Psi Soldiers because the Rifle is such a mediocre weapon.)

[Blaat]

Personally I really like rifles due to their range I also use them on my assault classes until the last shotgun weapon upgrade.

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

The difficulties are intentionally designed. Normal is for people who want to beat it with some minor resistance, and Classic is for people who want to barely win after losing several funding nations.

And Impossible is for people who like to hit their own heads with a hammer for pleasure.

I kind of wish there was something in between normal and classic, or at least that's what I thought when I wrote that. My current Classic difficulty Ironman game is going fine.

It's July, my last KIA squad member was in April (I lost a total of eight squadies), lost four members of the council: Australia, Brazil, Argentina and France. I pre-planned the abandonment of the last three although I regret abandoning France. Australia leaving was unintentional but luckily it's a poor country anyway.

Really the key aspect of of managing classic mode is surviving the early game which is just plain brutal until you get the first armour (the one giving plus five health) In my game I went for lasers rifles first but in hindsight going for the first armour is better.

As for midgame you still get plenty of damage so I continuously run squads with two support members to heal up the damage. Not so coincidentally the two highest rank squad members are both support classes.

The one thing that really stands out are the terror mission which so far consists of waves of chrysalids. My tactics consist of turtling right at the starting area, ignoring the civilians and defending my squads members against the bugs and occasional zombie.

[SoldierOfDarkness]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

Now, preliminary review of of Psionics...

I decided that there is no benefit in fielding a Psionic Sniper. Squad Sight doesn't work with psionics, and in general a fully upgraded sniper does more damage with regular attacks.

Psionic Heavy might work, especially if she is too far away to hit reliably. Psionic would be a backup weapon when she can't get closer.

Psionic Assult is nice. The problem is that you might want him to shotgun enemies in the face instead. Being such powerful units means it could be better that you use your RunNGun. Okay as a Psionic but only if RunNGun is on cooldown.

Psionic Support is actually the best in my opinion. The use of assault rifles is reasonable but doesn't beat Psionic attacks. So when possible it would definitely be better to use Psionic when in Assult Rifle range. The normal weapon would be reserved only for fighting robots. Their 4 square bonus movement also made it easier to reposition for long rang Psinic assults where rifles have trouble hitting.
(In short, Support makes the best Psi Soldiers because the Rifle is such a mediocre weapon.)

It depends on the factor but it doesn't hurt to check out the psi abilities for every soldier.

Like you said, sometimes it's better to hit with a mindray than with the gun.

Another factor is the psi shield which is useful in desperate situations where your pinned down by many enemies and can save your guys.

Another is to protect your guys from psi attacks as well.

[Khu]

I put off using the ethereal device for so long I got everything upgraded and I'm wading in cash with over 1k per month from the council lol :<

My squad's running plasma weapons and carapace, with 1 in psi armour, 1 in titan, 1 in archangel :L

only lost 2 countries from the council. Bumrushed the terror missions and managed to not get any operators killed XD

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Khu

I put off using the ethereal device for so long I got everything upgraded and I'm wading in cash with over 1k per month from the council lol :<

My squad's running plasma weapons and carapace, with 1 in psi armour, 1 in titan, 1 in archangel :L

only lost 2 countries from the council. Bumrushed the terror missions and managed to not get any operators killed XD

The question became, what to DO with all that cash?

I mean, I literally finished all Foundry and Research projects, so now all of a sudden Weapon fragments went from precious to useless.

Well, after creating one giant Workshop shown earlier, I now am in the progress of giving every base 2 Firestorms with EMP weapons (so they take turns being repaired) and 1 Firestorm with the fusion ball launcher for emergencies.

I am also starting a massive recruitment program for female soldiers with Iron Will boosted starting willpower of 50 or above. The massive cash reserve means I can hire 50 soldiers and then fire 95% of them three days later when they arrived.

[Roger Rambo]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

I am also starting a massive recruitment program for female soldiers with Iron Will boosted starting willpower of 50 or above. The massive cash reserve means I can hire 50 soldiers and then fire 95% of them three days later when they arrived.

Vallen Chaos, are you trying to construct a massive fem soldier harem?!

[Firefly00]

Originally Posted by Roger Rambo

Vallen Chaos, are you trying to construct a massive fem soldier harem?!

If he is, might I suggest this roster as a good source of names?

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Roger Rambo

Vallen Chaos, are you trying to construct a massive fem soldier harem?!

Sort of. The game encourages it with the Valkyrie Achievement. I don't have enough veteran females by default.
The annoying thing is, this game is NOT designed around mass firings. I have to click fire for every individual one at a time. Back in the original I can fire 30 people in 20 seconds.
(Is it really "firing" though? I mean, they got paid for showing up, then walk out of the HQ with a cheque for doing nothing...)

Originally Posted by Firefly00

If he is, might I suggest this roster as a good source of names?

Will put that into consideration.

New tip for savescummers; If you want to guarantee a soldier be Psionic, here is what you do.

1. Save after a mission, and fast forward scanning the Earth hoping that no attacks or UFOs appear. If emergencies pop up, deal with it and save the game, then return to scanning until you find 10 days of uninterrupted peace.

2. If no emergencies pop up after ten days, load the save. Now, take your desired soldier and put her in Psi training. Save.

3. Fast forward 10 days and see if she is Psionic. If she failed, load the save, take her out of the Psi-lab, then put her back in. Save. Then repeat the fast-forward.

Every time your soldier get taken out of the lab and then returns, her probability of being Psionic is re-rolled. So in effect you are re-booting her test results. This works, as I say, only if you have 10 days of uninterrupted peace.

[SoldierOfDarkness]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

Sort of. The game encourages it with the Valkyrie Achievement. I don't have enough veteran females by default.
The annoying thing is, this game is NOT designed around mass firings. I have to click fire for every individual one at a time. Back in the original I can fire 30 people in 20 seconds.
(Is it really "firing" though? I mean, they got paid for showing up, then walk out of the HQ with a cheque for doing nothing...)

You gotta admit. It's funny watching all 6 of your guys opening fire, especially when a muton berserker crashes onto the scene.

Just like that Expendables 2 scene.

Will put that into consideration.

New tip for savescummers; If you want to guarantee a soldier be Psionic, here is what you do.

1. Save after a mission, and fast forward scanning the Earth hoping that no attacks or UFOs appear. If emergencies pop up, deal with it and save the game, then return to scanning until you find 10 days of uninterrupted peace.

2. If no emergencies pop up after ten days, load the save. Now, take your desired soldier and put her in Psi training. Save.

3. Fast forward 10 days and see if she is Psionic. If she failed, load the save, take her out of the Psi-lab, then put her back in. Save. Then repeat the fast-forward.

Every time your soldier get taken out of the lab and then returns, her probability of being Psionic is re-rolled. So in effect you are re-booting her test results. This works, as I say, only if you have 10 days of uninterrupted peace.

Sounds like an awful lot of work and a lot of saves/loads. Not really worth it. Given the statistics you'll get enough psi soldiers anyways.

My squad's running plasma weapons and carapace, with 1 in psi armour, 1 in titan, 1 in archangel :L

only lost 2 countries from the council. Bumrushed the terror missions and managed to not get any operators killed XD

Same here, figured I put the priority missions off as long as possible.

My team now is
2x Assaults
2x Heavies
1x Support
1x Sniper

All using plasma-based weaponry and archangel armour. I know the Titan is the best armor but the Archangel armour gives a boost in accuracy and speed meaning you're guaranteed to score a hit and get from point a to point b faster. I usually had my Support use the Ghost armor cause it was cool with the cloak and all and the grappling but the archangel gets the point

Plus, with the archangel armor cover isn't necessary since I keep my guys close (and away from grenades) so firepower is optimized.

On that matter does anyone here bother using the SHIV units? I built the hover unit but I'm wondering if there's any point to it.

And the Sectopods are so damn annoying. I mean on this UFOs you shoot down I literally thought there was some factory pumping them out. On a supply ship that landed I had to fight through 5-6 of those monsters and my squad suffered heavy casualties (no deaths just really really bad wounds for 7-14 days)

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by SoldierOfDarkness

Sounds like an awful lot of work and a lot of saves/loads. Not really worth it. Given the statistics you'll get enough psi soldiers anyways.

It's not about having enough soldiers. I am playing on Normal, so there is no difficulty winning. Instead I am just trying to create a Perfect Savefile. This means Psi soldiers with maximum Will.

A soldier with Iron Will and auto squaddie promotion starts with a maximum of 52 Will (40 default +2 normal increase + 10 maximum Iron Will bonus). Then using save scumming before a mission ends, I can make sure she gets the maximum 12 Will increase per level up.

This means creating a psychic monster who has a Will score of 124. Enough to make Ethereals quiver in fear. I can raise that further with the Mind Shield and the Psi Armour, turning her into a Biotic God.

On that matter does anyone here bother using the SHIV units? I built the hover unit but I'm wondering if there's any point to it.

Ethereals would be helpless in front of a Shiv. A plasma Shiv with Overwatch can keep an Ethereal pinned down nearly indefinitely. And since you always know the Ethereal is in the middle of the ship, you can plan around neutralising it.
If you worry about mind control, the Shiv is the only way to go.

[Key Board]

I think Ethereals can still damage Shivs with their PSI lance

I could be wrong, though

[Clarste]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

Spoiler for end:

Allied? No, they want to Psionically dominate us. All the enemies are from different planets, alien races who were conquered and altered to suit the Ethereal's purposes. They saw our potential, especially how we ended up making superior weapons when push came to shove. But at no point were we suppose to be equals. They were trying to make us stronger before we were enslaved; they didn't realise we were stronger than they could handle. They were suppose to making the individual nations drop out of Xcom and join them out of fear. YOU, the Commander, stopped that. I love it; that the very existence of Xcom was what threw everything off.

Spoiler for ending:

I don't think that's quite it. When you enter the final room they give a speech about how they themselves are the biggest failure. It's implied that someone else tried to uplift them but failed, and they're trying to make up for it by creating a perfect specimen to replace themselves or something. Either that or half their species ascended to something and the ones left behind have some kind of inferiority complex. It's pretty vague. Either way though, the speeches the alien gave in the final mission implies they had different plans for you than the other aliens. Everything they dominate is a "failure" and clearly they want a success. But they also didn't want the success to kill them, so... I don't know.

They probably would have psionically dominated humanity, but that would have been only a step towards a bigger plan for us, bigger than the other aliens. Of course, nothing says that that project wouldn't "fail" as well and then they'd move on to the next species and use our mutated husks at foot soldiers. Conquering isn't their goal though: their goal is to create the perfect being, which they recognize themselves as not being.

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Key Board

I think Ethereals can still damage Shivs with their PSI lance

I could be wrong, though

Nah, I put a Shiv in the same room as an Ethereal, alone, and nothing happened. They are really your backup if your soldiers all have low Will.

[Khu]

I armed my sniper with the skeleton armour, plasma sniper rifle and improved scope.

He started oneshotting everything within 6 tiles. XD

[LoweGear]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

Nah, I put a Shiv in the same room as an Ethereal, alone, and nothing happened. They are really your backup if your soldiers all have low Will.

Depends. There is a way for Ethereals to kill SHIVs, and that's using their Rift ability. Still, they only seem to use it if you give them the opportunity by grouping your troops together.

Also, taking a much needed emotional break from the game. Losing all of my best-ranked troops in a single Classic terror mission (freaking Chryssalids) leaving me with an entire barracks of all-injured guys from the previous mission and only two rookies active is a kick in the nuts. Never had that many of my men turned into zombies before

[Fenrir_valindri]

I dunno, after getting familiar with the game, Classic actually feels fairly easy to me past the earliest levels. Playing Ironman Classic and have only lost 4 guys so far, and I have multiple max rank soldiers now.

Tried Impossible, and that is a step too far. Getting past the first mission alone is just wrestling with the RNG, doesn't matter how good you play it, it comes down to luck those first few missions till your troops get past the early ranks.