Crash course in XCom: Enemy Unknown?

[Seatbelt]

I actually kind of like the weak pistol damage at mid levels. Especially if my goal is to capture. Can't tell you how many times I've had a dude in perfect capture range but the target has too many HP. A regular gun might kill him. But a pistol will only ever knock him down to 1-2 HP. Which is perfect for capture.

[shadow_archmagi]

I actually kind of like the weak pistol damage at mid levels. Especially if my goal is to capture. Can't tell you how many times I've had a dude in perfect capture range but the target has too many HP. A regular gun might kill him. But a pistol will only ever knock him down to 1-2 HP. Which is perfect for capture.

I just use grenades for that (no damage variance) but I guess pistols could be viable too.

I also prefer lasrifles over plasma simply because I'm willing to sacrifice a couple points of damage to look awesome.

[Seatbelt]

I just use grenades for that (no damage variance) but I guess pistols could be viable too.

I also prefer lasrifles over plasma simply because I'm willing to sacrifice a couple points of damage to look awesome.

Pistols always do 1 damage, unless they do 2. So if something is at 3 HP it either takes 1 damage and is fairly easy to capture, or it takes 2 damage and it's already in the bag but doesn't know it yet. If something is at 4 HP, I guess the grenade works.

[Posca]

I just use grenades for that (no damage variance) but I guess pistols could be viable too.

I also prefer lasrifles over plasma simply because I'm willing to sacrifice a couple points of damage to look awesome.

While I agree lasers are awesome, how can you complete the game with them? In my experience they just don't kill stuff fast enough. Doubtap-killing that sectopod in one turn or two turn can be the difference between coming home with 6 guys or 6 body bags.

[Anarion]

Oh man, you've never played Dwarf Fortress/some of the more vicious roguelikes /some of those really hardcore Eastern European games I'm forgetting the names of, have you?

I tried dwarf fortress once, but the difference with roguelikes is that you know what you're getting into. XCOM seems to have an active community dedicated to nothing but constantly making the game harder and harder.

Is there an easy way to capture the Commanders? I tend to run into them in trios or with other nasty heavy units (like Mutons), so I tend to just crack out both rockets and rain death on the small room.

Clear out everything and when you go to the pilots' room in a big ship, don't open the door until your entire team is right outside the door together. Then open it, have your assaults run in and double-tap one-shot two of the commanders, have ~2 squaddies whittle down the third with pistols or grenades (or weaker guns if you haven't upgraded everyone to plasma yet), and then have the last 2 guys with arcthrowers come in for the capture. Very possible in a single turn and you should be looking at all 90%+ chances at that range.

It's been a while since I've XCom'd, but I seem to recall that flying doesn't count as having high ground, but is its own "you are flying" bonus.

Flying doesn't count as high ground but snipers with the "damn good ground" merit do get their bonus.

Besides on Impossible, without the Armor you'll be one shotted no matter what....how is that not a first priority?

Here's my thinking. With armor you can survive a hit, but you very quickly start running into enemies with 6 hp that do not die from ballistic weapons. The amount of additional attacks necessary to kill a thin man with ballistics as opposed to lasers is a huge deal. Moreover, the crits from thin men will kill you through carapace armor, so I find it's not that helpful early.

However, the biggest reason for lasers is that if you rush them, you'll have them for the first terror mission. Armor makes zero difference against Chrysalids, but laser weapons can let you breeze through the first terror mission on impossible like it's nothing.

The cost issue is irrelevant. If you pass through the first couple months without falling apart, even on impossible, the game gets incredibly easy and you can amass all the resources that you need. There's a difficulty spike the first time you run into mutons, but if you have lasers, you can handle that too.

[Tengu_temp]

I don't think a mod that'd make the aliens behave the way they did in the original Ufo/X-Com game would make the game harder, actually. They would walk around individually and it'd be easier to catch a single alien, instead of always encountering them in groups. And it would certainly be more fun, because as it is right now, XCom is all about approaching very slowly and carefully to make sure you pull only one enemy group at a time, dealing with it, and then moving on to the next group. Like an MMO dungeon.

[Tanuki Tales]

Why do you need the capture?

For interrogation? I'm curious about what interrogating it unlocks.

[Cikomyr]

Why do you need the capture?

[Talderas]

Part of this also comes down to play style, but snipers are incredibly overpowered in this game.

My first playthrough my first sniper (an Israeli female) also managed to pass Psy testing when I unlocked it. She had twice as many kills as my 2nd highest kill count character (which was the 2nd sniper I started taking) who also had twice as many kills as the 3rd highest kill count.

I've wanted to develop a squad of 6 Colonel ranked Snipers. Not sure how viable that would be. Maybe 4 Snipers and 2 Supports to scout.

[Hiro Protagonest]

For interrogation? I'm curious about what interrogating it unlocks.

Well, I think it accelerates psionic research, and that's it.

Speaking of speed bonuses, I think whether you go for carapace armor or lasweapons first depends on whether you manage to catch a Sectoid or a Floater first.

[Anarion]

Well, I think it accelerates psionic research, and that's it.

Does it change depending on whether you capture one or autopsy it first? I recall during my playthroughs that interrogating the sectoid commander was a green-highlighted priority choice that unlocked the psionics facility for me. But I always make a point of capturing that very first one at the end of the base because they're so nice about leaving it all by itself for you, so I actually have no idea what you get if you just kill it.

Speaking of speed bonuses, I think whether you go for carapace armor or lasweapons first depends on whether you manage to catch a Sectoid or a Floater first.

True dat.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Does it change depending on whether you capture one or autopsy it first? I recall during my playthroughs that interrogating the sectoid commander was a green-highlighted priority choice that unlocked the psionics facility for me. But I always make a point of capturing that very first one at the end of the base because they're so nice about leaving it all by itself for you, so I actually have no idea what you get if you just kill it.

You can unlock it from an autopsy, but you don't get the research credit.

[shadow_archmagi]

While I agree lasers are awesome, how can you complete the game with them? In my experience they just don't kill stuff fast enough. Doubtap-killing that sectopod in one turn or two turn can be the difference between coming home with 6 guys or 6 body bags.

Well, for one thing, I always only do Classic Ironman, rather than Impossible Ironman, so that makes the game loads easier. (I find that Impossible's increased numbers place increased priority on avoiding triggering spawns, which means the game becomes all about waddling down the narrowest possible corridor of fog of war, which strikes me as tedious and unfun).

Besides that, I dunno. It's only one or two points of damage, and it's pretty rare for me to have enemies at 1-2 hp, so except in the case of sectopods, I rarely see an extra turn's worth of bad-guy for my choice. Also, even with sectopods, a pair of heavies, firing twice each, with HEAT rounds, will 1-shot him. (I really like my heavies)

[Tanuki Tales]

I understand the game logic behind it, but I'll never understand the in-verse logic for 6ish Mutons to spend an entire terror mission killing civilians while leaving the two Berserkers to deal with the elite squad of plasma wielding soldiers. Especially once the Berserkers get melted before doing a thing.

[Cristo Meyers]

I understand the game logic behind it, but I'll never understand the in-verse logic for 6ish Mutons to spend an entire terror mission killing civilians while leaving the two Berserkers to deal with the elite squad of plasma wielding soldiers. Especially once the Berserkers get melted before doing a thing.

Insecurity. The poor little things have such fragile self-esteem, you see. Got to shoot at something to feel all big an' bad before the XCOM team wipes them out.

I mean, come on, just look at the size of the weapons they carry.

[JustSomeGuy]

Maybe it was just me, but my heavies were terrible at shooting - regardless of skill or sights or weapon, they just couldn't be relied upon to accurately hit the target. The rockets and anti-robot upgrades were their only reason for existence imo.

[Tanuki Tales]

I almost lost my all Colonel team yesterday.

I had shot down a large UFO ship and went to investigate it with my team. I spend several turns getting into the thing, with no aliens showing up to attack me or anything.

When I do finally find them, it's three Septoid Commanders.

In a hall way with no cover.

And my only Support gets mind controlled.

And then a Cyberdisc and two Drones come out behind me and drop a grenade on top of me.

And then three Heavy Floaters showed up.

And then three Mutons came out of the dark.


Funny story though, only two of my team ended up wounded, regardless of all the damage I took.

[Rawhide]

Maybe it was just me, but my heavies were terrible at shooting - regardless of skill or sights or weapon, they just couldn't be relied upon to accurately hit the target. The rockets and anti-robot upgrades were their only reason for existence imo.

This. Their accuracy is so bad that I only ever took them on missions when I had no one else.

[Grif]

Just snagged the game before the sale closed yesterday, and been playing on and off with the tutorial enabled on Classic difficulty.

Digging the fancy graphics. (Also, appreciating how they eased you into the game.)

[SlyGuyMcFly]

This. Their accuracy is so bad that I only ever took them on missions when I had no one else.

Weird. My heavies do splendid work. I remember a particular heavy, by the name of "Chunky Salsa" Rodriguez, who at one point had as many kills as every other member of the main squad combined.

I really, really like Rockets. I really, really like Grenades. Two heavies is the usual for my squads.

[Toastkart]

Maybe it was just me, but my heavies were terrible at shooting - regardless of skill or sights or weapon, they just couldn't be relied upon to accurately hit the target. The rockets and anti-robot upgrades were their only reason for existence imo.

I always have this problem too, which is generally why I only bring one heavy. It's also why I usually take holo-targeting. Even if the heavy shoots like a storm trooper, he at least can help his teammates, and it works on suppression too.

On another note, how many of you guys do your own modding/tweaking of the game? The first thing I did was change the default squad size from four to six and I've never looked back. I also rebalanced the final armors so that ghost armor isn't automatically the best. I've been meaning to do the same with laser and plasma weapons, but I haven't had really any good ideas on how to differentiate them. I see a lot of mods that make lasers have higher crit chance and plasma lower accuracy, but that seems a little basic and doesn't really do anything but make plasma worse. Any thoughts?

[Kudaku]

I found that two heavies with HEAT rounds and the bullet storm traits can reliably take out any enemy in the game in one round, including sectopods. I agree that heavies tend to be lacking on Aim, so I usually run them with the SCOPE.

[shadow_archmagi]

Maybe it was just me, but my heavies were terrible at shooting - regardless of skill or sights or weapon, they just couldn't be relied upon to accurately hit the target. The rockets and anti-robot upgrades were their only reason for existence imo.

As far as I can tell, there isn't actually a very strong correlation between class and accuracy. Heavies tend to be less accurate because they can get away with it- When you've got a rocket, you can get kills (and thus promotions) regardless of your ability to aim. Less so for snipers, for whom the inability to shoot straight is diagnosed early on.

[nhbdy]

Oddly enough, my game seems to find amusement in putting my most accurate soldiers into assault and heavy classes, while my support and snipers usually can't shoot straight, which leads to an annoying bit in the midgame where I'm desperately trying to train up a sniper because all my other ones are worthless

[Seatbelt]

So I have a confession. I've never actually beaten Classic Ironman. I got 1/3 of the way through normal and decided it was too easy, switched to Classic and finished that game.

This thread has made me try again. This will be attempt #14. I usually do base building fine, but some brutal TPK ruins the playthrough.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

I found that two heavies with HEAT rounds and the bullet storm traits can reliably take out any enemy in the game in one round, including sectopods. I agree that heavies tend to be lacking on Aim, so I usually run them with the SCOPE.

Agree that HEAT Ammo and Bullet Storm are fantastic. Disagree re:SCOPE. Grenades and the "moar grenades!" ability gives me more explosions. That means more LoS-cheating, more RNG-proof damage, and more cover destruction (these a few of my favourite things).

[Silfir]

By default, I think Heavies are legitimately the class with the lowest aim increases per rank, and sniper the highest. Hidden Potential and Not Created Equal throw that completely out of whack, though. You can get eagle-eyed heavies and crappy snipers in equal measure.

What's also true is that a heavy with crappy aim can still provide up to five aim-independent explosives per mission and support other squad members' damage, through holo-targeting or shredder rockets, or provide defensive support through suppression. A sniper with crappy aim can hold one item and does basically nothing otherwise except battle scanning.

My decent heavies are my favorite people of all. There is no greater satisfaction than a well-placed rocket, or unloading two full blasts of HEAT into that cyberdisk that just sauntered up right next to the squad. It doesn't even matter if you miss one of the two times.

[shadow_archmagi]

This thread has made me try again. This will be attempt #14. I usually do base building fine, but some brutal TPK ruins the playthrough.

The thing to remember is that a brutal TPK doesn't mean game-over. It just means you're down a few soldiers. Bring whatever veterans survived (Always good to bring one rookie on every mission, to ensure that there's a stockpile of not-rookies for later) and begin building anew.

Agree that HEAT Ammo and Bullet Storm are fantastic. Disagree re:SCOPE. Grenades and the "moar grenades!" ability gives me more explosions. That means more LoS-cheating, more RNG-proof damage, and more cover destruction (these a few of my favourite things).

I find that it's best to have at least one heavy with SCOPE and bullet storm- since they can attack twice, you're getting far more usage out of the SCOPE. Plus with two heavies, you've got at least four explosions anyway.

By default, I think Heavies are legitimately the class with the lowest aim increases per rank, and sniper the highest. Hidden Potential and Not Created Equal throw that completely out of whack, though. You can get eagle-eyed heavies and crappy snipers in equal measure.
.

A quick trip to the wiki proves you right. By default, a fully-levelled heavy has 75 aim, 30 less than a max-power sniper. Still, with scope, that's 85% hit chance, assuming the enemy doesn't have cover (And if you've got a heavy weapons guy, of COURSE the enemy doesn't have cover)

[tigerusthegreat]

These notes are on the vanilla game, and from my own personal experiences.


1. Cover is vitally important, don't neglect it and don't let anyone end their turn in the open. 2 directions or more of cover is very useful.

2. Utilize a real overwatch, that is a sniper on a rooftop or high position (with cover if possible) that can overwatch. If he has in the zone, even better.

3. Many people swear by an assault with a shotgun and the perk that gives you a free shot when an enemy gets within 3 hexes. I prefer to equip that assault with a regular gun (plasma especially is nice). Usually his overwatch shot + the perk shot kill anything coming at him.

4. Keep your squad spread out a little. It sucks getting one soldier pinned down by an enemy squad, but it sucks more to have one lucky grenade or something unexpected kill or injure a large amount of your squad.

5. Pay attention to the terrain. Enemies tend to come from predictable locations, but sometimes they hide very well. UFOs are especially a pain in the ass because while the terrain is predictable, cover is not in large supply and some of the cover that is available blows up.


Honestly, you should just play through a couple games because even loosing is fun in this game. Turn on ironman if you want to torture yourself.

Let me give you a fun example: I was playing an abduction map late in the game (maybe it was a panic, I don't recall) and started by a gas station. Now, I'd blown up enough cars to realize their danger, but I didn't realize the explosive radius of the gas pumps themselves. A bunch of enemies burst out of a nearby building while my entire squad is camped around the gas station, and lobs one grenade at the front guy. The grenade nearly kills him, the gas pump and car exploding does kill him, and I have a bad day. Then I notice nothing is happening, and I see two other pumps burning. They explode, causing the fourth to light up, and all the cars around. Whole station goes boom and I'm left with my medic at 1hp and everyone else dead.

[Artanis]

One thing that I think is worth mentioning is that XCOM is one of those rare games where high-difficulty tactics are distinctly sub-optimal for lower difficulties. For instance, on the lower difficulties, the power difference between your troops and the aliens is such that splitting into fireteams to sweep larger areas usually works significantly better than the "stack up in each others' footsteps" tactic.

These notes are on the vanilla game, and from my own personal experiences.

1. Cover is vitally important, don't neglect it and don't let anyone end their turn in the open. 2 directions or more of cover is very useful.

2. Utilize a real overwatch, that is a sniper on a rooftop or high position (with cover if possible) that can overwatch. If he has in the zone, even better.

3. Many people swear by an assault with a shotgun and the perk that gives you a free shot when an enemy gets within 3 hexes. I prefer to equip that assault with a regular gun (plasma especially is nice). Usually his overwatch shot + the perk shot kill anything coming at him.

4. Keep your squad spread out a little. It sucks getting one soldier pinned down by an enemy squad, but it sucks more to have one lucky grenade or something unexpected kill or injure a large amount of your squad.

5. Pay attention to the terrain. Enemies tend to come from predictable locations, but sometimes they hide very well. UFOs are especially a pain in the ass because while the terrain is predictable, cover is not in large supply and some of the cover that is available blows up.

QFT, especially #4. The missions where I found out the hard way that three or four guys were within a single grenade's blast radius dominate the top of the "Arty's spectacularly bad mission outcomes" list

Although I'll never be able to play Ironman because my terrible excuse for a video card leads to at least one crash during a mission being pretty much guaranteed