Xcom 2

Mopy · Post by **Mopy** » Fri, 11. Mar 16, 00:02

Thanks Cap'n Crash

I'll wait for a while.

muppetts · Post by **muppetts** » Thu, 19. Jan 17, 19:34

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/0 ... ore-424357

Free Long War mod here!

Mightysword · Post by **Mightysword** » Fri, 20. Jan 17, 07:15

Only beat the first mission so far and doing the prep for before the 2nd mission and ... holy crap ... I may be overreacting but there are SO MUCH more to the game. The two features that stand out the most so far are:

- Now you can deploy multiple "strike group" on multiple mission at once. Even if this were just a basic function I think it already a wet dream for most XCOM fan since a long time. Except, it seems to be more than just a basic function. You actually put soldiers into named squad, I don't know if there will be some deeper function to it but just on the cosmetic it already expand the RP possibilities greatly. My two team using default names right now are team "Foxtrot" and team "Kiryu-Kai". With the character pool I have eventually I will name them team Metal Gear and team Full Metal. Each team can have up to 10 members (that can be deployed all at once). So basically after the first mission I'm managing 20 soldiers

- Each mission now have a period of "prep-work" to do to "reduce" the mission difficulty. Of course nothing prevent you from kicking down the front door with gun blazing ... but so far from the people talking on the forum it's not a smart idea.

pjknibbs · Post by **pjknibbs** » Fri, 20. Jan 17, 09:05

I don't actually like X-Com 2. There. I said it. The main problem is, it introduces the thing I hate above all else in video games--the arbitrary time limit. When I got to a mission where I'd literally got all but one of my soldiers to the end zone when I ran out of turns I thought "F this for a game of soldiers" and uninstalled it. If the time limit had just been "another 500 enemy troops land on the map at this point" then I'd have been OK with it, because I could probably have still got out, but when it's "No, you fail immediately, GG" is when it goes too far.

Mightysword · Post by **Mightysword** » Fri, 20. Jan 17, 09:09

I'm not a fan of it either, I think that's why some patch back the dev unlock it in the .ini file and you can change it to some larger value or remove it altogether.

Edit: I don't think it's entirely albitrary, rather it's overdone. Most of the scenario with a timer make sense:

- You "hot drop" into the middle of an urban area, it makes sense you have a limited window for Evac.
- You're trying to stop a transmission, so you need to rush it before the transmission is completed.

I bet initially those are the missions that supposed to have a timer, but someone liked the idea so it's like "hey this is fun, let's slap it on every mission type!". I think the worst offender is the one where you have to retreive some gears or data from a vault, they don't know that you're coming (evidently you start those mission in concealment) so why are they rigging their own stuff to explode? For fun?

muppetts · Post by **muppetts** » Fri, 20. Jan 17, 11:37

You can mod timing, I have infiltrate mod, so the timer does not start until you are discovered and I have a mod that adds 5 turns to the count, not a deal breaker on the urgency, I find it just right.

pjknibbs · Post by **pjknibbs** » Fri, 20. Jan 17, 13:28

Mightysword wrote:Most of the scenario with a timer make sense:

- You "hot drop" into the middle of an urban area, it makes sense you have a limited window for Evac.
- You're trying to stop a transmission, so you need to rush it before the transmission is completed.

The actual amount of turns you're given are too short in those cases, though. Think about it--an entire turn in X-Com is probably 10-20 seconds long, judging from how far your men can move and what they can do. So, I'm hot dropped into the middle of an area and I have to be in and out in literally a matter of 2-3 minutes? If the area is *that* ruddy hot it amounts to a suicide mission sending the troops in there!

Mightysword · Post by **Mightysword** » Fri, 20. Jan 17, 16:18

I think it's longer than 2-3 min. It's not like they operative hit the ground running and constatnly on a sprint/marathon. The whole concept of concealment was that the squad moving silently and out of sight, so there should be some deliberation between moves. 12-15min sound more right to me, but then again it's just my arbitrary estimation.

Morkonan · Post by **Morkonan** » Fri, 20. Jan 17, 21:20

pjknibbs wrote:I don't actually like X-Com 2. There. I said it. The main problem is, it introduces the thing I hate above all else in video games--the arbitrary time limit...

^--- This.

I haven't played XCOM 2. But, any game that sets a "time limit" bothers the heck out of me, especially if it's a situation like you're describing, where a time-limit makes no sense at all.

It's a way to artificially inflate the sense of urgency and drama, making whatever task/mission that uses it seem unique and more intense than other tasks/missions. So, when this is used, whatever task you're doing in a game becomes "not like the others" and it changes-up the experience.

The problem is that its often not very sensible. Yet, because it's an often-used tropish game mechanic, the player accepts it. For me, when it's just plain stupid, given the game's narrative/style, it has a negative effect on my opinion of the whole game.

Still, it's an accepted general game mechanic and there aren't a lot of easy ways to accomplish what it can, despite some gamers hating it.

Mightysword · Post by **Mightysword** » Sat, 21. Jan 17, 05:37

Update:

Rocket flying left and right, cooked flame thrower sectoid BBQ, double splash grenade launcher, holo targeting sniper, grenade and flashbang being pop like confetti at a bachelor party, psionic teleport re-enforcement. Last but not least, a "shinobi" chick that can carve through armor and do more damage then my most powerful Colonel ranger ...

Sound like your usual end game carnage right? Except that happens in mission 3 with a full squad of ... Squadies. 14 turns, 22/28 alien killed, 1 death, 1 injured. I'm loving this

Rednoahl · Post by **Rednoahl** » Sat, 21. Jan 17, 17:37

pjknibbs wrote:I don't actually like X-Com 2. There. I said it. The main problem is, it introduces the thing I hate above all else in video games--the arbitrary time limit. When I got to a mission where I'd literally got all but one of my soldiers to the end zone when I ran out of turns I thought "F this for a game of soldiers" and uninstalled it. If the time limit had just been "another 500 enemy troops land on the map at this point" then I'd have been OK with it, because I could probably have still got out, but when it's "No, you fail immediately, GG" is when it goes too far.

That is exactly the reason I never got Xcom2. I found the first annoying enough with it's 100% hit/100% miss combat mechanics without needing more ancient game design making things even more vexing.

muppetts · Post by **muppetts** » Sat, 21. Jan 17, 23:37

That's because no one counts the 15% hit chances you do make....

Post by **korio** » Mon, 23. Jan 17, 10:03

For those who want the game at a cheap price, its on the humble bundle monthly sub, so you can get it with another 5 games for only 12$.

Here is the link in case anyone is interested.

I have never played any xcom game, i will check them at the end of this month if i have time.

Any newbie recomendations?

Mightysword · Post by **Mightysword** » Tue, 24. Jan 17, 04:01

korio wrote: Any newbie recomendations?

Play at the easiest or second easiest difficulty if you just start to come to the series, so you can appreciate the gameplay, story, mechanic ...etc... After one play through and feel that if it's your thing, you can tune to more difficult mode. Starting out this game at higher difficulty could see you get so frustrated even before you get to the better part of the game, it has been a very front loading game in term of difficulty.

Oh, and I just lost my first long war campaign ... even before I skulljack a captain.

Edit: and *facepalm*. Just tried to look up some more info after that rubbing, turn out they add a base build of sort mechanic into the game which I was totally un-aware of, no wonder I kept getting zero supplies every months ...

If anyone starting LW2, I recommend this thread, it's some kind of manual from the dev. They also add a mechanic like some of the popular mods did to Xgame, and that is the ability to mount a series of assault to completely liberates (take over a region). Although I'm already up to my nose on the normal missions ... these missions are promised to be extra hard. Wow, I wonder how much change they brought into the game. I played for 3 days and now reading this, I realize I didn't even understand 50% of the mod.

Mightysword · Post by **Mightysword** » Mon, 30. Jan 17, 08:47

Another update:

- Lost a 2nd game again a week ago. And take a load of this, I lost before even getting the Avatar counter to appear, AND I was using the consoles to give myself free resource, AND I was save cumming shamelessly like a sissy. AND like I said, I lost the game without even getting the actually "start" of the campaign.

- Third time: with a bit more knowledge about the game flow, after 20 hours or I just manage to 'liberate' my 'first' region. It was a battle that lasts for 35 turns ending with over 50 Advent deaths and a bunch of injuries on my side (no deaths but a couple gravely injured), fought it for about 2 hours and the map come with a courtesy of a boss too. Remember that last battle in vanilla on Legendary? Yeah ... this battle make that one look like a rookie training course.

- Best part, after all that, the spokesman finally unveil the avatar project and the counter appears, at this point I haven't even have the shadow chamber build yet. It feels like after putting enough afford to win a Legendary vanilla game with some to spare, it's telling me "well scrubs, guess what, now the REAL game actually start".

In any case, it's really like a whole new game. Your research and engineering queues are jammed with stuffs. The Global map are pretty much a game of it own, and I dare say they're equally if not even more important to manage it right to win the game. As your tactical skill, fighting pod with 6-10 advents, and some map have like 3-4 of those, you will have to completely change your approach. Now I understand why you have access to shred cannon and rocket so early in the game, they help, but you can't no longer BOOM your way to victory like vanilla.

I highly recommend anyone give it a try, you won't be playing the same game. Make sure you get the TRUE CONCEALMENT mod with it though, as mentioned earlier by someone else, it freeze the map timer until you commit into an engagement (and LW2 have a way to enter combat without breaking concealment, and no, it doesn't make thing as easier as that sound). This way you can move about the map and set up your strategy, as well as making educated guess about will you have enough time for your objective before firing your weapon. It's very realistic, take out the frustration but keep the original challenging intention there.

In any case, if you start a game on higher difficulty (I'm playing on commander) expect it a long term project. Think about that X-game save you have months after months, I figure this may be something like that.

Post by **korio** » Mon, 30. Jan 17, 14:58

I have been playing this weekend some hours in the "normal" difficulty.

Im starting to enjoy the game, there are some thing i dont like but overall, as a newbie of the game, seems pretty solid for me.

Its hard, and i like it, its like darkest dungeon, you focus more in not loosing anyone than winning the mission.

I have just unveiled the "avatar project" mission, its seems that im just starting the plot.

Mightysword · Post by **Mightysword** » Wed, 1. Feb 17, 05:59

korio wrote:
Its hard, and i like it, its like darkest dungeon, you focus more in not loosing anyone than winning the mission.

That's the right attitude to enjoy the game. I always feel despite how hard it is, XCOM is not a game for the perfectionalist. If one focus is to be able to beat every battle, and beat it perfectly every time then more often than not the game will feel very infuriating rather enjoyable.

muppetts · Post by **muppetts** » Thu, 13. Jul 17, 09:25

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74fhO9S ... e=youtu.be

New reveal for War of the Chosen expansion.

muppetts · Post by **muppetts** » Sat, 15. Jul 17, 10:25

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHr9U20WBw8&t=747s

Chris Odd bit of an Xcom regular, cool channel, he has a play vid of the Chosen expansion to see some of the new stuff.

egosoft.com

egosoft.com

Xcom 2