XCOM 2 is on sale 60% off...

[Sian]

my most important trooper is probably my Specialist, who's rocking an 145 Hacking, being able to fairly consistently (68%) steal control of Heavy MECs ... that have probably saved me at least a handful of units, specially doing the Avenger defence missions

[Hunter Noventa]

So I happened upon a hilarious combination with my Templar.

You see, she learned Bladestorm as an early XCOM bonus ability.

Bladestorm.

I brought her to a mission full of Lost, ran up, killed an advent trooped in the middle of a bunch of lost, used parry to block the attack from the Advent MEC...and then watched her mow down about a dozen lost as they tried to swarm past her, it was glorious.

And a couple promotions later, she learns Reaper.

[Rodin]

I just got a reminder of why I don't play on Ironman. Chosen Stronghold mission decided it was time for me to die:

Spoiler: Stronghold

Show

After killing the Assassin for the first time, the reinforcements summoned in were...a pair of Andromedons. Tough enough that I decided I couldn't afford to screw around with killing them and went for the obelisk instead.

Second round of summons was....another pair of Andromedons. Can you say "Total Party Kill?"

Fortunately the RNG was more forgiving on my second attempt.

[Avilan the Grey]

So, stupid question:
Can someone please explain the radio towers / resistance network to me? I haven't gotten that far into the game yet but so far I have not had anything telling me I need to build / research something to make contact?

[Rodin]

So, stupid question:
Can someone please explain the radio towers / resistance network to me? I haven't gotten that far into the game yet but so far I have not had anything telling me I need to build / research something to make contact?

Each region has a monthly income, similar to the countries in Enemy Unknown. In addition, you need at least 3 regions to take full advantage of Guerilla Ops - having 3 regions gives you a choice of 3 missions, each with different rewards and countering different Dark Events. If you don't have 3 regions, you'll only be able to pick one or two.

To make contact with other regions, there's an early research called Resistance Communications. This research is unlocked by a preset story event - completing your first Guerilla Op and meeting the Spokesman.

Once you have this research, you can contact any number of other regions. However, there is a cost multiplier as you move further away from your starting region. 1 region away (adjacent) is 30 Intel, 2 away is 60 Intel, etc.

The research Resistance Radio lets you build Radio Relays. Each Relay acts as a new "home region" which resets the multiplier. It's advisable to build these pretty regularly to prevent costs from getting out of control - I personally try not to spend more than 60 Intel on any given region. In addition, each Relay provides a hefty boost to your monthly income for the region in which it is built. This varies by region, and you can see the bonus by mousing over the icon. Balancing putting relays in regions that give a better income bonus vs regions that are important for your expansion is another thing to keep an eye on.

Furthermore, there are continent bonuses that are revealed once you've researched Resistance Radio. These show up on the world map on their associated continent, and are revealed once you can see a region on that continent. You don't need to have made contact - just have access to it. To gain the continent bonus, you have to make contact with every region on the continent and build a certain number of radio relays. The number varies on continent, and show up as little blue dots next to the continent bonus description.

It's important to keep expanding throughout the game - each new region increases the supplies you get monthly, and that number is continually decreasing as the Chosen crack down on regions and as you build new facilities there is an upkeep cost associated with them. On top of that, shutting down alien facilities requires contact with the region its in. As the Avatar project progresses, it becomes more and more important to have a widespread network so you can quickly shut down facilities.

[Vitruviansquid]

I just got a reminder of why I don't play on Ironman. Chosen Stronghold mission decided it was time for me to die:

Spoiler: Stronghold

Show

After killing the Assassin for the first time, the reinforcements summoned in were...a pair of Andromedons. Tough enough that I decided I couldn't afford to screw around with killing them and went for the obelisk instead.

Second round of summons was....another pair of Andromedons. Can you say "Total Party Kill?"

Fortunately the RNG was more forgiving on my second attempt.

Andromedons, man. Andromedons.

Yeah, I find the more resilient the enemy the bigger threat they are. This is true to the extent that it almost doesn't matter what exactly the enemy in question does. Pretty much any enemy can cause catastrophic damage on either their first free turn or their second free turn.

[Doorhandle]

Andromedons, man. Andromedons.

Yeah, I find the more resilient the enemy the bigger threat they are. This is true to the extent that it almost doesn't matter what exactly the enemy in question does. Pretty much any enemy can cause catastrophic damage on either their first free turn or their second free turn.

Agreed. It's the entire logic behind the "beta strike" second-wave option. On the upside, once you get decent psi-troops, Andromedons go from "threat" to "asset" very quickly.

And while we're sharing Xcom-2 WOTC stories, here's a few I collected.

*Lost mission with a gatekeeper and plenty of advent. The gatekeeper used gateway... and resurrected the horde of lost I killed, and all the advent. PSA, re-zombified lost cannot be headshot, so it was a race to kill the gatekeeper before it could kill me

*The Chosen Hunter had shell-shock as a weakness; so on every appearance he got double-exploded to death. Made particularly funny because Chosen make snide comments whenever you use explosives.

*Killing the Chosen Warlock by having a ranger sword-rush it, then following up by using exchange on a templar so HE could get in range. Helped that he had brittle...

* Any battle with the Chosen Assassin was pretty awesome TBH, but they didn't have any standout moments.

*Killing the Archon King with a clutch repeater-shot just as he was about to piledrive Mox.

*One-shotting pods with Remote Detonation, and Rainmaker on my SPARK unit.

*In the second campaign, killing the Archon King by the whole team sniping him from outside his vision with various explosives, finishing him off with Banish from the Reaper. God bless homing mines!

*The hilarious glitches whenever you use an advent turncoat to carry away the VIP objective.

* A miraculous terror mission with no civilian deaths.

*The first terrifying encounter with a specter.

* Killing a gatekeeper with the damage from Psi-feedback.

*A desperate run past a sectopod which had risen up from inside the building and bulldozed it's way to our evac point.

*Using reapers to solo the comm tower and the facility missions.

*A templar with fortress, who I would regularly send charging into explosions, such as the battery in the Chosen!avenger defence mission.

* A flustercluck of a successful defence mission. In sequence:
-A blaster-bomb/claymore combo that failed to kill the tower. Crud.
-The near detector of my reaper... and realising no-one could actually snipe the tower from their locations. Crud x2.
- The reaper getting detected when he shot the damn tower. Crud x3 combo!
- The lost acting as the cavalry to distract the worst of advent forces
- Saving the reaper by sending a Templar's ghost-clone to use exchange in order to move the guy to safety. And I had though the clone to be overrated...

*The obscene power of a colonel-lever sniper with an Icarus suit and WOTC gear, allowing him to basically snipe every enemy in the final mission.

* Killing an avatar with a skirmisher using Wrath and Justice in sequence.
*Killing the other Avatars with soulfire, proving that Psi troops > Avatars.

And that's about it...assuming I don't run through it a third time in a row.

[Leon]

Andromedons, man. Andromedons.

Had my first Bonded Solider death on the first Andromedon encounter, the second one almost kill the SPARK as well. But yes once you have some form of MC they are a handy mobile Damage sponge/wall breaker

[Sholos]

I think the thing I hate most about XCOM 2's "Kill it on the first turn you see it or you will get messed up," attitude is that it means even a minor amount of bad luck can wreck your day/game. Especially since it can be very hard to control when pods activate if you have the kind of luck with patrols that I seem to.

[boomwolf]

I think the thing I hate most about XCOM 2's "Kill it on the first turn you see it or you will get messed up," attitude is that it means even a minor amount of bad luck can wreck your day/game. Especially since it can be very hard to control when pods activate if you have the kind of luck with patrols that I seem to.

Well, the Beta Strike second wave option can help rectify that somewhat...

Just be aware, the entire game balance shifts when that's active.
Sharpshooters will no longer be the gods of lost missions, +1 damage effects lose much of their value, DoT effects become so much better, and many more.

You won't get instagibbed, but you wont trigger-kill pods either.
Do NOT activate it without activating the double mission timers though.

[Vitruviansquid]

I think the thing I hate most about XCOM 2's "Kill it on the first turn you see it or you will get messed up," attitude is that it means even a minor amount of bad luck can wreck your day/game. Especially since it can be very hard to control when pods activate if you have the kind of luck with patrols that I seem to.

To me, it's not really a fight until you have somehow triggered two pods or more. That's when the "fun" begins.

At 1 pod, you are playing the game of kinda judging how much of your resources you should expend, but chances are it's not that big of a deal (though some single pods can be a doozy, like triple Codices before you have plasma weapons, or an early pod with a MEC or two) whether you choose to expend some consumables, some cooldown, or some health.

At 2 pods, you are fighting for life and death, and that's the actual game. Sure, there are times when you get unlucky and it results in death, and that feels bad, but the game is built to accommodate some of that random death. It's also a part of the game to replace your soldiers and gear and make judgment calls about whether you can continue the mission or not.

[Sian]

My funniest fight was where a two pods being met on consecutive turns ... First was Andromedon+Trooper+Officer, with the later two retreating to positions which I couldn't get any clear shots on, second pod was triggered when my sword-ranger ran up to the Andromedon to kill it, consisting of a Sectopod+EliteShieldbearer+Lancer.

won without a scratch since i managed to focus fire down the Sectopod (Holo-target Rapture on the Sectopod, a deadeye shot from my sharpshooter and one more, and haywired the Andromedon shell walking it into range of the others which led them to all focus on killing that, followed by my specialist skullmining the Shieldbearer to remove the shields on everyone

[Anteros]

Wish I would have noticed this thread while it was still on sale. I've been wanting to play this for a while, but I can't justify the ridiculous price tag to myself.

[Aotrs Commander]

Wish I would have noticed this thread while it was still on sale. I've been wanting to play this for a while, but I can't justify the ridiculous price tag to myself.

Steam wishlist is your friend in this regard, since you get an email notification when something goes on sale. I use it liberally now.

[Anteros]

Steam wishlist is your friend in this regard, since you get an email notification when something goes on sale. I use it liberally now.

That would require me to check steam or my email. I barely keep up with my work email.

[Avilan the Grey]

Each region has a monthly income, similar to the countries in Enemy Unknown. In addition, you need at least 3 regions to take full advantage of Guerilla Ops - having 3 regions gives you a choice of 3 missions, each with different rewards and countering different Dark Events. If you don't have 3 regions, you'll only be able to pick one or two.

To make contact with other regions, there's an early research called Resistance Communications. This research is unlocked by a preset story event - completing your first Guerilla Op and meeting the Spokesman.

Once you have this research, you can contact any number of other regions. However, there is a cost multiplier as you move further away from your starting region. 1 region away (adjacent) is 30 Intel, 2 away is 60 Intel, etc.

The research Resistance Radio lets you build Radio Relays. Each Relay acts as a new "home region" which resets the multiplier. It's advisable to build these pretty regularly to prevent costs from getting out of control - I personally try not to spend more than 60 Intel on any given region. In addition, each Relay provides a hefty boost to your monthly income for the region in which it is built. This varies by region, and you can see the bonus by mousing over the icon. Balancing putting relays in regions that give a better income bonus vs regions that are important for your expansion is another thing to keep an eye on.

Furthermore, there are continent bonuses that are revealed once you've researched Resistance Radio. These show up on the world map on their associated continent, and are revealed once you can see a region on that continent. You don't need to have made contact - just have access to it. To gain the continent bonus, you have to make contact with every region on the continent and build a certain number of radio relays. The number varies on continent, and show up as little blue dots next to the continent bonus description.

It's important to keep expanding throughout the game - each new region increases the supplies you get monthly, and that number is continually decreasing as the Chosen crack down on regions and as you build new facilities there is an upkeep cost associated with them. On top of that, shutting down alien facilities requires contact with the region its in. As the Avatar project progresses, it becomes more and more important to have a widespread network so you can quickly shut down facilities.

Still basically Greek to me. Seems they added complexity for complexity's sake.

Oh well.
Starting over again, because I'm an idiot. Or rather because I now have enough custom designed characters to fill the basic rooster plus more for recruiting.

[Sian]

What are people's default team composition?

Not having WotC my default one is 2 Rangers (one shotgunner, one sword), 2 Sharpshooters (one long range, one gunslinger), a specialist (haywire protocol and healing) and a grenadier (Shedder, Holo-Targeting, Volitile Mix, Salvo and Rupture)

[Vitruviansquid]

The thing about WoTC is it makes "default team compositions" a thing of the past.

The addition of 3 additional classes to the pre-existing 5 makes 8 classes... which is a lot.

There are many new mission types where it is clearly advantageous to have more of a certain class or type of class than others. A field commander elimination requires more mobile firepower where the old destroy alien relay mission can stand to have stationary classes. The Chosen can also have weakness to explosive, making it more necessary to bring grenadiers, or weakness to melee, making it more necessary to bring rangers, your skirmisher, and your templar.

[Rodin]

The thing about WoTC is it makes "default team compositions" a thing of the past.

The addition of 3 additional classes to the pre-existing 5 makes 8 classes... which is a lot.

There are many new mission types where it is clearly advantageous to have more of a certain class or type of class than others. A field commander elimination requires more mobile firepower where the old destroy alien relay mission can stand to have stationary classes. The Chosen can also have weakness to explosive, making it more necessary to bring grenadiers, or weakness to melee, making it more necessary to bring rangers, your skirmisher, and your templar.

I mostly bring whoever isn't injured or tired, which skews my class composition pretty wildly anyway. The one class I try and always bring is a specialist, because having a medic tends to be pretty essential and specialists are already pretty good all-rounders.

Case in point, my last Chosen Stronghold mission, which I've decided to call "Tatyana Dobrynina's horrible, no good, very bad day".

It started out badly when she was knocked unconscious and Shadowbound by a Spectre.

She woke up from that just in time for the ceiling to collapse on her, setting her on fire.

The next firefight was against 2 pods simultaneously, and the aliens opened by having one Viper poison her, then the other yank her across the room and constrict her.

When the viper was shot, she took cover - but this meant she was the most advanced trooper, so she got knocked unconscious again when a Stun Lancer whacked her over the head with his baton.

A large amount of patching up later (I brought 5 Medkits for this mission, and at this point she alone has used 4), and she's back to being mostly healthy. Final firefight time.

This battle opens with a pair of Viper Primes, a modded enemy that gets a free action whenever they survive enemy fire. The Viper survives a shot from my Sharpshooter...and turns around and shoots Tatyana instead.

At this point I just burst out laughing. The game obviously had it in for her, I'm not sure why. I wound up completing the mission with one Gravely Wounded soldier - nobody else got a scratch.

Needless to say, once she gets out of the Infirmary she's going to be spending the week after that on the therapists couch. Apparently, she has a fear of snakes now. I wonder what could have brought that on?

[Hunter Noventa]

The thing about WoTC is it makes "default team compositions" a thing of the past.

The addition of 3 additional classes to the pre-existing 5 makes 8 classes... which is a lot.

There are many new mission types where it is clearly advantageous to have more of a certain class or type of class than others. A field commander elimination requires more mobile firepower where the old destroy alien relay mission can stand to have stationary classes. The Chosen can also have weakness to explosive, making it more necessary to bring grenadiers, or weakness to melee, making it more necessary to bring rangers, your skirmisher, and your templar.

You almost need to have two specialists, one hacker, one medic. Being able to even just Stun a Sectopod is a huge advantage.

Though I wouldn't suggest it without the 'Hack Plus' mod that lets your specialists get better at hacking by, well, hacking.

But yeah, i find myself adjusting my party comp based on what Chosen controls an area. Like my Assassin ignored overwatch, but wasn't immune to explosives.

Or hilariously, I had the Hunter show up during a Retaliation Mission. He's weak to explosives. Both my SPARK and Exosuit Grenadier had rockets. I blew the floor out from under him, and then blew him up again. it was great.

I's crazy though, I've been buzzing around trying to hold off the Chosen, I've got Plasma Weapons, but I've yet to do the Blacksite Mission. Thankfully I turned off the avatar project.


I really like the variety of Resistance orders, I started the game with the absolutely huge 'Guardian Angels' order that means Covert Ops are never subject to ambush.

[warty goblin]

You almost need to have two specialists, one hacker, one medic. Being able to even just Stun a Sectopod is a huge advantage.

Though I wouldn't suggest it without the 'Hack Plus' mod that lets your specialists get better at hacking by, well, hacking.

But yeah, i find myself adjusting my party comp based on what Chosen controls an area. Like my Assassin ignored overwatch, but wasn't immune to explosives.

Or hilariously, I had the Hunter show up during a Retaliation Mission. He's weak to explosives. Both my SPARK and Exosuit Grenadier had rockets. I blew the floor out from under him, and then blew him up again. it was great.

I's crazy though, I've been buzzing around trying to hold off the Chosen, I've got Plasma Weapons, but I've yet to do the Blacksite Mission. Thankfully I turned off the avatar project.

I'm in basically the same boat. I've done the Blacksite, but haven't skulljacked anybody yet. Partly because I just haven't had time, and partly because I really hate fighting codexes. A codex showing up along with a chosen sounds like a genuine nightmare. I've got the Avatar project on, but it's been pretty easy to keep it pruned back via operations or whatever they're called. Now that I've rubbed out the Assassin finally, it's probably time to make with the involuntary neural penetration, because the Hunter's vulnerable to explosives and therefore an utter joke to fight even if there's also a codex about. Milage may vary, but my strategy is very much grenade first, grenade later, ask questions never.

I really like the Operations too. It's a very clever way of increasing the amount of stuff you can do without increasing the number of tactical battles hugely. Plus the tactical battles they do spawn seem to be really different, like get to the extraction point ASAP screw the shooting.

[Rodin]

Codexes are pretty easy for me since I got the Feedback RO pretty early on. Shoot a Codex, kill the clone, and then let it use its Void ability on you. The feedback will instakill it.

Hacking - With the new Covert Ops, I haven't needed mods. I just stuck my Hacker in every mission that gave a hacking bonus and she can steal or shut down stuff pretty well now.

Avatar project - With the doubled time, I find it to be basically the same as turning it off. I haven't hit a single facility and ignored the Black Site until I had Plasma Weapons. The only decreases I've had are from the Black Site, Skulljacking an Officer, and from a random Covert Op that I did for the other bonuses. Even with that level of ignoring it, I still have 5 bars free on my meter and I'm about to go on a rampage through the facilities to start cleaning things up.

On Chosen - I wish their HP scaled better into the lategame. The only strategy I needed once I got Plasma weapons was to Run and Gun my Ranger behind them, shoot them in the head, then use Teamwork to give her a second turn to shoot them dead. I haven't been so much as wounded by a Chosen ever since - they die on the first turn I'm aware of them.

[boomwolf]

I found the hacking mod good in concept, but overpowered.

It should give a hacking bonus when you fail more than then you actually make it, so instead of snowball hacking, you get a plateau when you get good enough but if you are not really useful-a hack attempt might fail, but at least the next try would benefit.

[tonberrian]

Bundle Stars are having a sale on WotC, if anyone's interested.

[Leon]

Game doesn't like it when you use a Advent Trooper to pick up the blacksite vial, i had both a Resistance fighter and a Advent Double agent with me and thought it would be funny to see. Least i had a recent QS to go back to.

[Avilan the Grey]

I am thinking of doubling the timers this play but... It seems overkill.
So far I have only failed one mission with turn limit and that was because I placed ppl in the wrong order and failed to reach the objective because another character was blocking it.
On the other hand I am constantly the last turn. Doubling them seems very very easy though; if I could add... 25% would be great.

[Hunter Noventa]

I am thinking of doubling the timers this play but... It seems overkill.
So far I have only failed one mission with turn limit and that was because I placed ppl in the wrong order and failed to reach the objective because another character was blocking it.
On the other hand I am constantly the last turn. Doubling them seems very very easy though; if I could add... 25% would be great.

There are some mods that let you add a varying amount of turns to the timers without outright doubling them. I don't know if they've been updated for WotC though.

[Rodin]

Having gotten the "Concealment prevents timers from starting" RO in my latest run, I recommend grabbing the mod that permanently enables that over simply increasing the timers. In vanilla I was just using the one that gives +4 to the turn timers, and that effectively removed them as a concern as I was never even close to running out of time. Concealment allows you to get closer before triggering it but then does give the time pressure afterwards. Plus it feels less cheaty.

I believe the mod is called True Concealment or something like that.

[Vitruviansquid]

Before downloading mods, you might consider using the two resistance orders that mess with mission timers.

[Rodin]

Before downloading mods, you might consider using the two resistance orders that mess with mission timers.

That assumes you get them - the resistance orders are random, and it took me several games before I got the one that gave me the concealment bonus. If timers are seriously irritating you, I can definitely see modding them as a better choice.