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2012-10-10, 01:21 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2008
Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
Can anyone tell me how the 360 port is? Amazon gives it high ratings, but I want to know from first hand. I can't afford to upgrade my rig to play on PC, so 360 is my only hope.
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2012-10-10, 01:38 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2008
Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
I've decided to restart, I just lost an entire highly veteran squad, mostly to my own stupidity <T_T> And I'd gotten too attached to them.
Basically here's what happened:
There's a parking lot, my troops are clustered around 3 separate cars, 2 to a car. My Colonel rank Heavy with HEAT ammo and Mayhem for her rockets is farthest back.
Suddenly, in the same turn we detect 6 Mutons, a Cyberdisc and 2 Drones. All at once, and I'm almost out of moves... my furthest ahead Assault surrounded from 3 directions, and has no moves left.
I have to end turn, he dies horribly as expected, then the Cyberdisc moves on.
Now Cyberdiscs don't really worry me because my Heavy's rockets do absurd damage to them - they tend to die in one shot. So I lined up what appeared to be a clear shot on the Cyberdisc, only to see "Shot Blocked" - last time I saw that, I took the risk, fired anyway, and the shot hadn't actually been blocked. I thought the same was true this time...
Nope! My rocket just *barely* clips a the car 2 of my guys are sheltering behind, due to my heavy being invested in making her rockets more powerful, it proceeds to blow up EVERYTHING nearby, the only survivors being the Colonel who shot the rocket (only barely surviving at that); and my sniper who was farther back.
It's the first time I've felt that I just didn't want to go on if I couldn't reload; because that was just... eugh. I don't know why I thought Ironman would be a good idea for me >< but clearly it wasn't.
So I'm going to start over; this time without Ironman mode. I won't be doing a lot of reloading, but moments like that >< yeah that ain't happening again.Computer is back! Yay!
Feel free to check out my Deviantart page - it's not great, but I'm trying to change that.
Current avatar by me <>_<> Needs work.
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2012-10-10, 02:03 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2011
Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
It's been pretty good, so far. The camera's a little finicky when you're trying to move people around corners, and the controls take a few missions to get the hang of (at least for me).
Other than that, it's a blast to play. If it's your only shot at playing Xcom, then the 360 isn't bad by any stretch of the definition."How're we doing?"
"The dwarf's on fire."
"So as bad as usual, huh?"
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2012-10-10, 02:24 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2011
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- US, Alabama
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
Dude, I just lost MY Colonel rank Heavy too! He was my best soldier, the survivor from the tutorial even, and had all of the best gear as soon as I could give it to him. Untill my first Terror Mission...
Poor Hector took point into a building, leading the charge against the floaters shooting down innocent civilians. Then once the building was cleared and civilians secured, he opened the back door... to come face to face with three Chrysalids.
Thankfully I had set the rest of the squad to cover the door, since I fully expected them, just not so close. So Hector ran back as far as he could go, and overwatch took down two of the three, heavily wounding the last. Unfortunately, that was all the opportunity it needed. BAM, dead, implantation on top of it.
Cure four grenades and much manly tears.
Second worst loss was when I got jumped by six Thin Men from the roof tops on either side of the alleyway where my team was taking shelter. Sniper racked up a ton of kills (I LOVE those S.C.O.P.E.s) but it wasn't enough, lost half the squad, and with a group of floaters moving in, I had to abort mission to avoid the loss of my two best troops. Then Hector died next mission.
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2012-10-10, 02:36 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2007
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- Quebec, Canada
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
So the game is currently downloading, sorry Gaige, I'll come back to you when my friends are online. I'm thinking about doing an ironman at normal difficulty (or whatever it's called). What are some big mistakes I don't want to make?
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2012-10-10, 02:44 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2011
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- US, Alabama
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
Take things slow unless you have fantastic sightlines. Nasties have a tendency to pop up right around corners, and once they are spotted they get a move action IMEDIATELY. If you weren't prepared for that you may be left in a bad situation, especialy if they have alternative movement methods (jumping, flying, supa speed).
GRENADES ARE AWSOME early on. You get one use per soldier equiped with it, so try to hold off using them till you REALLY need to kill something right now and don't want to risk that rifle shot doing a measly 2 damage, OR if there are two or more enemies grouped together. I once got four floaters in one grenade toss, and it was the best thing ever.
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2012-10-10, 02:45 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2009
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- San Francisco
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
*Sob* I've been so busy the past two days I haven't had a chance to even touch this yet.
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2012-10-10, 03:07 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2007
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
So, just finished off the alien base. I'm in June at the moment, and I REALLY wish I had some Support-class soldiers right about now because without them I am losing guys left and right. At the moment all I'm getting are Assaults and Heavies, with the odd Sniper. I'm just glad my Colonel-level Sniper hasn't kicked the bucket yet, without her things would be pretty much impossible (There was one Terror mission in particular where she was a big help, in which almost every alien on the map attacked me at the same time.)
Also, I'm running really low on Alien Alloys at the moment, so I'm hoping to find more UFOs soon.And at the same time, I'm rushing to build more satellites. Thankfully, the panic reduction from the Alien Base gave me some breathing room, I already lost India around May, and I was on the verge of losing three more countries.
EDIT: You know, it would have been nice for the game to tell me I just got a massive pile of Alien Alloys.Last edited by Gamerlord; 2012-10-10 at 03:18 PM.
Credit for my various avatars goes to Dashwood,Cealocanth,Kwarkpudding,Randomizer,kpengu in,Alarra,Bisected8,zimmerwald1915, and Thanqol.
Once known as "Gamerkid".
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2012-10-10, 03:24 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2007
Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
Don't overtrain a few and ignore the rest. Try to take a few newbies on everything except the hardest missions - you don't want to have only 5 super-leveled guys that (as has happened in this thread) force you to restart when they get a TPK. Yes, leveled up guys are amazing - but the first power for each tree is ridiculously useful on its own, so even the most basic guys do a hell of a lot better once they have that. Assaults get run-and-shoot and heavies get missiles. Snipers get their main power in the second level up (ignore distance limitations/move and shoot), but same logic applies.
Also, "seconds are jewels without price in battle" paraphrasing Henlein. If you have two 45% shots against a covered alien (or better, two 30% shots against a fully covered alien), don't take both and hope for luck. Have one of them be a grenade to eliminate the cover without hitting the alien. Then take the second shot against the now-uncovered alien. If you are pressed for time, blow him up. But if you can take the time, it is better to recover whole aliens, and blowing up cover helps a lot.
Don't get me wrong, explosives are wonderful to get you out of messes - but they are also excellent at removing cover without destroying the equipment. I took two heavies to my last mission, and used one of their rockets just to deny the enemy cover - forcing them to scatter and take terrible positions, and giving my overwatch clear line of sight.
The other rocket was kept for insurance, which I used when two thin men advanced on my sniper.
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In other news, I have yet to figure out two things that are rather important:
1) where can I check how many engineers and scientists I have? I know I don't have enough for certain buildings, but can't tell how far I am from the target. Also related, can you hire them, or do you have to hope for an abduction mission that gives them to you in the area with most panic?
2) In all the videos, the firaxis guys could tell line of sight and flanking info before moving, just from the cursor's position. How? Is there a button I can press?
Thanks to anyone that can answer.
Grey WolfInterested in MitD? Join us in MitD's thread.There is a world of imagination
Deep in the corners of your mind
Where reality is an intruder
And myth and legend thrive
Ceterum autem censeo Hilgya malefica est
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2012-10-10, 03:31 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
Speaking of cover. Assault troopers get a wonderful ability called "Flush", it's a high accuracy, low-damage shot that forces enemies to leave their cover (Though they might run into different cover, or around a corner). I'm pretty sure it also triggers reaction shots from Suppression or Overwatch.
it is very, very good.
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2012-10-10, 03:34 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2009
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- The cyberpunk present
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
*gnaws on random bits of furniture*
I want this game sooooo baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.Truth resists simplicity.
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2012-10-10, 03:38 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2011
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- US, Alabama
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
So how do you do that? I've not been able to find anything on the loadout menu just before a mission. I just figured it was randomly selected, and the awsome guys just popped up more.
In other news, I have yet to figure out two things that are rather important:
1) where can I check how many engineers and scientists I have? I know I don't have enough for certain buildings, but can't tell how far I am from the target. Also related, can you hire them, or do you have to hope for an abduction mission that gives them to you in the area with most panic?
2) In all the videos, the firaxis guys could tell line of sight and flanking info before moving, just from the cursor's position. How? Is there a button I can press?
Thanks to anyone that can answer.
Grey Wolf
I have no idea on #2. It may have been dropped, ir its buried somewhere in the settings menu.Last edited by Codemus; 2012-10-10 at 03:39 PM.
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2012-10-10, 03:42 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2007
Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
When selecting the team, there is a button to remove members from the team. If you are looking at the loadout screen, you're in the wrong place - that's edit. You want to drop them out when they are all standing before the plane. Then, in the same spot, you can add one by selecting them from the list. Otherwise, you always get the same guys, and only randomly selects when one of them is injured and sitting out the mission.
Grey Wolf, who might accept defeat and -shudder - read the manualInterested in MitD? Join us in MitD's thread.There is a world of imagination
Deep in the corners of your mind
Where reality is an intruder
And myth and legend thrive
Ceterum autem censeo Hilgya malefica est
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2012-10-10, 04:16 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2008
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
That's not a difficulty thing, that's just bad luck. I had a sniper miss three 70-some shots on an airborne floater in one mission yesterday, and I'm on normal.
"Very difficult" doesn't seem to mean much. The last mission I did last night had three choices all flagged as very difficult, and the one I picked just put me up against ten Thin Men. Which is a joke at this point, as I can one-shot them with every unit I have and many of my troops can take three hits or more from them before going down.
Only had one tense moment where my Assault trooper had a couple get triggered by a move she was making to get in range to capture one of the others, and got shot at four times for it with no cover from two of them. She took two hits for two damage each, which wasn't even enough for her to be considered wounded at the end of the fight.
Quite good. Though since I've never played the original game I guess I have nothing to compare it to on the PC, so there's that.
ZevoxLast edited by Zevox; 2012-10-10 at 04:19 PM.
Toph Pony avatar by Dirtytabs. Thanks!
"When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." -C.S. Lewis
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2012-10-10, 05:36 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2006
Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
For snipers, do you guys prefer squad sight or the one that lets you move and shoot? For my first sniper, I took squad sight, but probably 80% of the time, I still had to waste a turn moving him into position. Well, he's dead now (and he was a major, too) and I'm wondering which would be worth more for my second sniper.
I haven't used flush much, and the few times I did, it put the target right into some other cover. I've found rapid fire to be much more useful, seeing as my assaults are usually in close proximity to the aliens, and there are plenty of aliens that need more than one hit to kill.The first chapter of The Book of Svarog
“Everything has its time and everything dies.” ~ The Doctor (Doctor Who)
“The facts of nature are settled within the field of human argument.” ~ The Golem- What Everyone Should Know about Science by Harry Collins and Trevor Pinch.
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2012-10-10, 05:58 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2008
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
I've only used squad sight, but I've found it quite handy. I very often find myself shooting at an enemy found with it (represented by the crosshair icon on the alien icon). It doesn't eliminate the need to get the sniper into position, but once they're there, squad sight eliminates the need to move them again for the duration of the engagement.
ZevoxToph Pony avatar by Dirtytabs. Thanks!
"When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." -C.S. Lewis
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2012-10-10, 06:53 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2008
Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
I also prefer Squad Sight myself. Find a really nice spot with a good line of fire to as much of the map as possible, and your sniper can be the squad's Guardian Angel for all intents and purposes. The Opportunist ability is particularly nice in conjunction with Squadsight, since it improves your Overwatch.
Also I must concur with Grey Wolf's points. I did have a couple vets left over in the barracks, but losing an entire squad of veteran troopers who you've put a lot of time and love into *hurts* - make sure there's a rookie or squaddie there to catch rounds for them. (Well and hopefully level up.)
Armor is also imo THE highest priority, though laser weapons are a good second. You only need 6 suits of armor total, since you can simply un-equip it and shift it to another character. Which isn't to say you can't build more, but so far it's been easy enough to just rotate the armor usage.
Oh, one other thing I've found immensely handy:
Keep about 20 soldiers on staff. You shouldn't need more (at least as far as I've gotten); but having 20 means that no matter how many come back severely injured, you've always got more to take their place without having to worry about a mission coming up suddenly and you not having anyone to send.
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Finally: Having 1 or 2 Support soldiers with the 3x use Medikit ability is *golden*. I got through a mission stacked with 12 Chrysallids and 18 Civilians* without any casualties thanks to a couple of support troopers. It was a close thing and everyone was wounded afterward, but it was amazing that we survived at all frankly.
*10 of which were turned into zombies since it was a narrow bridge and every 5 feet *bam* MORE CHRYSALLIDS!
Ideally I'd suggest rotating them on missions so you always have 2 rookies or squaddies on the team to gain xp too.Computer is back! Yay!
Feel free to check out my Deviantart page - it's not great, but I'm trying to change that.
Current avatar by me <>_<> Needs work.
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2012-10-10, 06:55 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
There are two roles a sniper can play. They can either be a high-damage frontliner, or a back-rank support. I like to find a nice perch with a commanding view of the battlefield and put my sniper up there, and if that's the case then Squadsight is invaluable. A sniper in a good position with squadsight can fire with good accuracy on half the map. The trick is to find a good spot and get them there.
I haven't used flush much, and the few times I did, it put the target right into some other cover. I've found rapid fire to be much more useful, seeing as my assaults are usually in close proximity to the aliens, and there are plenty of aliens that need more than one hit to kill.
Also, I have bad luck with rapid fire.
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2012-10-10, 06:58 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2008
Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
Oh, one more thing:
Am I weird for wishing XCom had a "Quick Play" option?
What I mean is, let you trick out a squad of soldiers however you like* - and then just do a totally random mission; no connection to a campaign or strategic layer at all. Just for when you feel like you want a quick turn based strategy fix.
Cause I find myself sometimes not wanting to deal with all the campaign stuff and just wanting to go bug hunting < ._.>
*With the caveat that the more powerful their gear is, the more powerful your opposition will be.Computer is back! Yay!
Feel free to check out my Deviantart page - it's not great, but I'm trying to change that.
Current avatar by me <>_<> Needs work.
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2012-10-10, 07:55 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2012
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
LPs that I like to think I will get back to some day.
To Make a Fan: Let's Play Final Fantasy
Let's Play Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
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2012-10-10, 08:02 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2007
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- Australia
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2012-10-10, 09:28 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2008
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
Okay, a little progress report from me.
I'm into the fourth month now, and things are proceeding quicker than I expected, I must say. I now have five satellites up - over the US, Japan, Egypt, Germany, and Nigeria - and am working on a Satellite Nexus to add five more. Panic is at an all-time low, with only a couple of countries at two.
I've taken a couple more live enemies, a Thin Man and a Muton. Had a situation where I should have been able to capture a Cryssalid, but apparently I'm not allowed to, as the game didn't detect it as a valid target for my arc thrower. I've begun acquiring Plasma technology... which honestly doesn't seem like much of an upgrade over lasers so far, but eh, maybe that's just the light rifles. I've also set up my Psi Lab, and discovered that Chie, my much-used Assault and highest-ranked unit, possesses Psionic potential. I think she is trying to become my MVP unit for the entire game. Nobody else that I've tested so far has it though, disappointingly, which includes several I was hoping would. Haven't used psionics in battle yet (because I've been giving Chie a break while I use my new Assault trooper), but I look forward to testing them out.
I've also built, used, and lost my first SHIV (of the armored variety). It was quite handy - very durable, good move range, good damage, I researched the ability for it to suppress enemies. Unfortunately it was lost in my most recent mission, where I first encountered Cyberdisks and Drones, which were accompanied by Cryssalids. Yeah, it got ganged up on and destroyed. Worth it though, I think, since it surely saved my actual troops' collective asses with its sacrifice, and unlike them it can be replaced with just a little money and resource investment (which I unfortunately don't have right now due to a lot of money going into construction, but that's what missions are for, right?). I also have the ability to construct a hover-SHIV now, may try that out next time.
Speaking of Cyberdisks and Drones, Heavy troops with Heat Ammo firing a rocket at them is by far the best solution I've seen to them. 12 damage in a wide radius with practically no chance to miss, taking down the drones and leaving the Cyberdisk with very little health to work with (or killing it if it was already wounded), plus of course hurting anything else that happens to be nearby. Saved my ass so hard in that last mission.
My unit roster is now:
SpoilerMajor Chie Satonaka, "Carnivore." Female Assault, Psionic.
Major 5th-Gen Labrys, "Steel." Female Heavy.
Captain Yukiko Amagi, "Snow Black." Female Support.
Captain Kanji Tatsumi, "Beefcake." Male Heavy.
Captain Yosuke Hanamura, "Ressentiment." Male Sniper.
Captain Yukari Takeba, "Gale." Female Sniper.
Captain Shinjiro Aragki, "Gourmet." Male Heavy.
Captain Akihiko Sanada, "Two-Fist." Male Support.
Captain Junpei Iori, "Trismegistus." Male Heavy.
Lieutenant Yu Narukami, "Izanagi." Male Assault.
Lieutenant Rise Kujikawa, "Idol." Female Support.
I also have a Sniper Squaddie I haven't named that I'm uncertain if I'll use, and a Captain-rank Heavy that I got as a mission reward but feel like I have no use for since I already have so many other heavies. I haven't been recruiting new soldiers lately, both because of money constraints and because the team I have now is just working great.
And I'm now just a few days away from completing my next story objective, building a facility based on tech recovered from the alien base I cleared out last night. Should be interesting to see where that goes.
I would imagine the multiplayer is kind of like that, except with human opponents. Though I may be wrong, I haven't tried it myself yet.
ZevoxToph Pony avatar by Dirtytabs. Thanks!
"When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." -C.S. Lewis
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2012-10-10, 10:13 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2008
Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
Yeah, the thing with multiplayer is... I don't like the whole "Aliens mixed with Humans" team set up. Also I'm always nervous about playing other people - there's just so many terrible sports out there that there's just not a lot of fun for me in facing them.
Computer is back! Yay!
Feel free to check out my Deviantart page - it's not great, but I'm trying to change that.
Current avatar by me <>_<> Needs work.
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2012-10-10, 11:07 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
My Homestuck role is Thane of Space of the Land of Insanity and Frogs.
The Malkavians would be proud.
***
Thanks to Mokipi for the Exalted avatar!
For avatars of your own, he's on White Wolf.
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2012-10-10, 11:11 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
Toph Pony avatar by Dirtytabs. Thanks!
"When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." -C.S. Lewis
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2012-10-11, 02:25 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
I think I have encountered a bug. I took a plated SHIV out to assault the alien base, and it proved to be completely unable to do anything else then roll. As a result, I lost half my team (my 3 colonels are ok so not all is lost). Is there an actual reason for that or was it a bug?
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2012-10-11, 05:49 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2009
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
I don't think I've played a turn based strategy game this addictive in a long time. So far, I've been playing a lot of Classic Ironman, and restarting a lot (I think the farthest I've ever gone was to my first Terror mission... I was not prepared for Crysalids)
In case anyone else here is struggling like me, or just likes talking about the strategy, here's some stuff I learned the hard way.
1. I'm seeing three possible 'build orders' in term of early game research. First, you could research up to alien interrogation and use captured aliens to make up for the time you lost on not researching weapons and armor. This seems to be the highest risk and highest reward path - you have a net gain in the speed at which you research thanks to more of the research being done with the help of credits, but you also depend on your ability to capture aliens to get the credits and you spend more time fighting Thin Men and Floaters without the benefit of midgame techs.
Second, you could make a beeline for Carapace Armor and minimize the time you spend fighting non-Sectoid aliens with less than 10 health. This seems like the best option to me because capturing the alien to accelerate armor research is pretty hard anyways.
Third, and in my mind the poorest option, is to make a beeline for laser weapons. I don't think you really need laser weapons until Crysalids. Sure, having Laser Rifles over Assault Rifles really raises your lethality against 3-4 health enemies, but it's not even close to being as powerful an upgrade as nearly *doubling* all your soldiers' life and, aside from supports, all of your classed soldiers will have 5 damage weapons, which are good enough to take out Sectoids, Thin Men, and Floaters.
2. The importance of flanking is really frustrating in this game because it conflicts with the importance of not waking up every alien on the map. Sometimes you set up the perfect way for your soldier to get around the enemy's cover only to discover that your route takes you within sight of a pack or two of other aliens, who proceed to charge out to their buddy's rescue. Ugh.
3. Half cover is terrible. Since your soldiers will die in one or two hits against most enemies, a 45% chance of being hit is still a rather high chance of instant death. Of course, this is also applicable to aliens, and I'm still trying to decide whether it's worth simply pouring firepower on aliens in half cover rather than attempting to flank them.
4. I seem to lose hardest whenever I go up against Floaters. Anyone have any tips on how to handle them? I can't stop them from advancing when their flying bonus gives them the equivalent of half cover all the time, no matter where they are, and they seem to have an accuracy advantage against my guys all the time. The best I can hope for is when one decides to try Launching to flank one of my soldiers, and by doing so, exposes his own flank.It always amazes me how often people on forums would rather accuse you of misreading their posts with malice than re-explain their ideas with clarity.
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2012-10-11, 07:03 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2006
Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
The problem I've found is that not all battlefields have a good perch. And line of sight, even with squad sight, seems to matter. Maybe it's just me. I've got two snipers now, so I'll have one of each and see how it goes.
I didn't think of it in terms of build order, I just took the research projects as they seemed the most useful. Which I guess sort of put me in the order of capture, armor, weapons. I also started in Europe, and set up adjacent laboratories early on, so I have a lot of research bonuses.
This has been my experience too. The more you can compartmentalize a fight, the safer you'll be. In this case, flanking is a delightful bonus, not something you try to achieve for every shot.
The way I play it, ever since I got a squad of six, is to move up in covering lines. My two assaults are out front, covered by a heavy and a support. I have a sniper who's behind them and the last slot depends on what class I have in it. If it's another assault, he's up front. If it's a support or heavy, they're mid-line.
If I have to split my squad, I split into groups of three. Basically, each soldier is covered by one if not two others. In the case of say floaters doing that jetpack move where they come down behind you, he's under fire from at least two of my guys. Similarly, if we get charged by a beserker, he's under fire from most if not all of my squad no matter what angle he comes at or how close he gets.
Agreed, but it's better than nothing. Most of the time it's all you've got, especially in wilderness areas with crash/landed ufos. Most of the kills I've made were through partial cover.
Even when I was low rank I found floaters to be relatively easy to deal with. It's really only when they're in combination with other, more dangerous troops that they become a threat. Now, I did just encounter heavy floaters, and they seem much more dangerous due to their hp boost and it seems they have some kind of aoe attack now. I did manage to capture one during my first encounter, so it's not as if they're impossibly tough. They did a fair amount of damage to my squad before I got them, though.
That's an interesting idea I hadn't thought of. That being said, I often find it easier just to shoot him directly. If there's a 50+% chance of hitting an enemy that's under cover, it's worth taking the shot most of the time.
As for rapid fire, it can be finicky. I've missed both shots at ~65% and close range, but that's xcom for you. Still worth trying against close range enemies like beserkers, cryssalids, etc.The first chapter of The Book of Svarog
“Everything has its time and everything dies.” ~ The Doctor (Doctor Who)
“The facts of nature are settled within the field of human argument.” ~ The Golem- What Everyone Should Know about Science by Harry Collins and Trevor Pinch.
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2012-10-11, 07:58 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2008
Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
I am absolutely loving this game, even on the 360. Controls are very smooth once you get used to them and the gameplay is near perfect.
My only big complaint is that in the tutorial's bombing mission it never stated how to disarm the energy pods.
The 3 flashing arrows around the pod made me think that I had to surround it to get it to disarm, but that didn't work. I tried to target them, but that wasn't a valid option. Finally, with 1 round of charging time left, I randomly pressed the "A" button and that made it work. The game really needs to more clearly state that "A" ont he 360 is the "interact with environment" button.
Because of that problem I was unable to progress in that mission and was forced to retreat.
On that same mission, the text about aborting missions is misleading. At the time it appeared only my Sniper was in the evac area. I chose to abort, thinking it was the right choice, and lost my ranked Assault, Heavy, and Support. I am really thankful my Sniper survived. With him and really careful troop movement I've been able to take on a couple more missions without losing anyone which has netted me a couple more ranked soldiers.
Still no more Assaults, though
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2012-10-11, 08:04 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2006
- Location
Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
So I've been enjoying the game and feel that I wanted to share/comment on a few things I've seen thus far.
To address the cover question, if the shields on your cover are red then it's no good or you'll be flanked, I haven't seen much beyond that yet to indicate flanking/LoS.
For the sniper debate I find Darn Good Ground (edited for forum filter), squad-sight and the spider suit to make a VERY nasty combo. In the terror missions I've run they've given me 100% hit chance with 50-60% crit chance against the opponents even fully across the map. My sniper with double tap is the reason that I was able to get the achievement for all excellents on my last mission.
I've found that run and gun is most useful as a means to get that last burst of speed to reach distant cover and still be able to overwatch/rapid fire if need be.
Cryssalids are really not as scary as they used to be. I had one mission where one of my assaults opened a door and activated 3 of them who cornered him. Killed one with rapid fire and hurt the other two with other shooting but didn't kill them, I was afraid that I was going to be down two guys with zombies in my face to make everything worse but found that two guys just took 9 damage hits and breathed a HUGE sigh of relief.
Overwatch is AWESOME for escort missions, by using it effectively and keeping my squad spread out I've been able to keep the enemy infiltrators from being able to attack/move at all on my returns. Nothing is quite as ridiculous as watching 4 people all overwatch the same thin man as soon as it jumps onto the overpass.
ARMOR IS KING!! Learn it, live it, love it. The casualties I've had were from when I ran soldiers without it and they ate rather unfortunate plasma rifle fire. Carapace is a good baseline but certain classes benefit from the abilities in variant armors. I really like the skull/spider suit (can't remember exact name right now) for my sniper for the extra mobility/grapple option and a friend of mine uses it with his supports for the extra movement to get to wounded soldiers more quickly. I've just finished research on the Titan and Ghost suits and plan to upgrade my heavy support soldier to the former.
Overall I've been taking a more leisurely pace in the game, I have full US coverage but have lost Nigeria so I can't get the +30% funding bonus (chose europe for my start). I've just finished the first alien base and it's research so now I need to build the hyper-wave decoder to activate the next plot mission. I've been enjoying it thus far and I've found that a Sniper, Heavy, 2 Assault, 2 Support squad really works well for me. I have a few more squaddies but I've been sloppy about getting a good number of backups trained but that is my next goal while I work on getting my satellite coverage up to 100%CRPG Rules: http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html