XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...

[Codemus]

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c

I'll continue to capture mutons, for their grenades, but otherwise, if all I get from captured aliens is less resources, I'll happily slaughter them.

Eventualy you can research to unlock an unlimited amount for your own troops. It dosen't replace frags, I guess so it would be easier to weaken criters.

[Evrine]

There's also the possibility of requests for various weapons. Just last night I had a request for six light plasma rifles, and they gave me about 1200 credits in exchange. I had three already from captures, but even building the other three netted me a good profit.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Originally Posted by Evrine

There's also the possibility of requests for various weapons. Just last night I had a request for six light plasma rifles, and they gave me about 1200 credits in exchange. I had three already from captures, but even building the other three netted me a good profit.

Ah, good. I've only received requests for my own tech so far, but if they can ask for those, then that is a good enough reason to keep risking my assault guys and using stunners. Thanks!

GW

[Codemus]

Those requests seem pretty rare though. I've had maybe 3 in all the time I've played. Though that may be because I lost a lot of places and I have poor satelite coverage. Not sure.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Originally Posted by Codemus

Those requests seem pretty rare though. I've had maybe 3 in all the time I've played. Though that may be because I lost a lot of places and I have poor satelite coverage. Not sure.

I get a couple a month. Shirts, stunners, that kind of thing.

GW

[Codemus]

So has anyone fielded a team composed of only S.H.I.V.s yet? Because that just seems hilarous to try.

[KillianHawkeye]

Well my second playthrough is going MUCH smoother than my first. I'm in the beginning of month 3 with only 1 country at full panic level and my third satellite uplink room almost finished and two more satellites on the way. I got the carapace armor, so my first terror mission went by without any squad losses. I'm getting close to reaching my power limits, but I'm already excavating towards my second set of steam vents, and I've begun building the alien containment room and researching the arc thrower. Lasers are next on my list.

I gotta say that having a lot of engineers and only a few scientists is WAY BETTER than a lot of scientists and only a few engineers. What good is all that research if I can't build anything? Also, the price decrease for having more engineers makes maintaining satellite coverage a whole lot easier. I even managed to buy some extra interceptors, and hopefully I can begin upgrading them soon.

Originally Posted by Codemus

So has anyone fielded a team composed of only S.H.I.V.s yet? Because that just seems hilarous to try.

LOL, I'm gonna have to try that at some point.

[Anarion]

Originally Posted by Tengu_temp

I haven't seen any alien snipers yet. I don't think they exist.

They don't, I just got the achievement for doing an autopsy of every alien species, nothing with a sniper rifle.

Originally Posted by BRC

It's a good idea to research Light Plasma Rifles early on, then go crazy with the Arc Thrower for a bit. Then you can save your precious alloys building armor and specialist weapons (Like Heavy Lasers and Laser Snipers), while outfitting your supports and assaults with Light Plasmas, which are slightly superior to Laser rifles. I used Light Plasmas for an extended period of time. It's best to grab them while you're still fighting the highly-stunnable Thin Men.

Also, Classic X-Com fans, I just realized. Thin Men are described as being reptillian because they're replacing the Snake Men.

So, I actually have to say that overcapturing is a mistake, especially before enemies switch to regular plasma rifles. Weapon fragments are used in a ton of stuff and you need them, badly. Once enemies switch to using the heavier plasma equipment, it's worth the capture because each one of those guns is making you between 150 and 200 money and everyone can use plasma rifles. Though again, once you have 3-5 plasma rifles and a couple heavy plasma, I think you should go back to killing for the fragments and cash from the bodies.


Oh and regarding snakemen, if you sit in the situation room, one of the random radio transmissions is your base manager coming on the radio and going "What? you heard reports of snake men? *dismissive tone* Don't be ridiculous." Or something like that, I don't think that's verbatim.
Edit: the right phrase is two posts down, posted by Grey Wolf.

Originally Posted by Codemus

So has anyone fielded a team composed of only S.H.I.V.s yet? Because that just seems hilarous to try.

I want to see a team with 5 snipers with squad sight and a rookie in the heaviest armor you can buy.

[Codemus]

Originally Posted by KillianHawkeye

Well my second playthrough is going MUCH smoother than my first. I'm in the beginning of month 3 with only 1 country at full panic level and my third satellite uplink room almost finished and two more satellites on the way. I got the carapace armor, so my first terror mission went by without any squad losses. I'm getting close to reaching my power limits, but I'm already excavating towards my second set of steam vents, and I've begun building the alien containment room and researching the arc thrower. Lasers are next on my list.

I gotta say that having a lot of engineers and only a few scientists is WAY BETTER than a lot of scientists and only a few engineers. What good is all that research if I can't build anything? Also, the price decrease for having more engineers makes maintaining satellite coverage a whole lot easier. I even managed to buy some extra interceptors, and hopefully I can begin upgrading them soon.



LOL, I'm gonna have to try that at some point.

All of that makes me want to try an extreme engineer playthrough. Just a rediculous ammount of workshops and engineers, using ONLY SHIVs once it can be researched, but I'm unsure where to base it.

A base in N.America would be nice, since I think that cost and upkeep reduction also counts for SHIVs. Europe's 50% reduction for workshops and labs would be very nice, Africa is always good, and Asia would offset the rather low ammount of scientists I'd start out with.

What do you guys think?

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Originally Posted by Anarion

"What? you heard reports of snake men? *dismissive tone* Don't be ridiculous."

I got that one last night, as I was signing off. The phrasing is "You saw a snake? What has that got to do with anything?"

When I heard it, it made me think that it was just a guy overreacting to something that moved in the bushes (something like "Exactly why did you missile the bush?" "I saw a snake"...) but now that you mention it, it probably was a reference to the snake men.

GW

[Anarion]

Originally Posted by Codemus

What do you guys think?

I'm actually starting to think that Africa is flat out better than every other bonus, since that extra money usually will exceed the savings from any of the other locations. And South America does have a unique bonus, but thus far I've had no issue keeping up with all the research, so I don't think it really matters.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Originally Posted by Anarion

I'm actually starting to think that Africa is flat out better than every other bonus, since that extra money usually will exceed the savings from any of the other locations. And South America does have a unique bonus, but thus far I've had no issue keeping up with all the research, so I don't think it really matters.

I agree. Sure, cheaper planes means you bring down more UFOs, which gives you a lot of money - but you need those UFOs to show up. The saving from labs and engineering aren't that amazing (60 a pop? And you don't need more than one a month, maybe two). Same with Asia - not sure how much money all those officer projects cost, but a rough estimate tells me that you're better off with the Africa bonus.

Grey Wolf

[Codemus]

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c

I agree. Sure, cheaper planes means you bring down more UFOs, which gives you a lot of money - but you need those UFOs to show up. The saving from labs and engineering aren't that amazing (60 a pop? And you don't need more than one a month, maybe two). Same with Asia - not sure how much money all those officer projects cost, but a rough estimate tells me that you're better off with the Africa bonus.

Grey Wolf

Lets see... the first and second squad upgrades cost $75 each. The 25% extra experiance from kills is somewhere around $125, The one that makes all rookies squadies is about $200, then the last two each cost about $250. All of them are a great benefit.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Originally Posted by Codemus

Lets see... the first and second squad upgrades cost $75 each. The 25% extra experiance from kills is somewhere around $125, The one that makes all rookies squadies is about $200, then the last two each cost about $250. All of them are a great benefit.

So, all told, you-d save about $500. I'm on my third month, and in the last council I made about $650, which would give me about $200 extra if I was in Africa. So I would make the Asia bonus back in about three months, with cash to spare. Not sure how long the average game length is, but I expect the Africa bonus pays itself over easily.

On the other hand, this is back-of-the-envelope calculation, and heavily dependent on play style. I'm by no means saying "everyone should start in Africa" only that, money-wise, Africa is best in the long run.

Grey Wolf

Edit: I should add, apart from the XP and size, I haven't been tempted at all by the bonuses. I don't mind people taking longer to heal (I'm just happy they aren't dead) and I no longer have rookies - everyone I had was already trained by the time the option opened up. I don't remember what the expensive ones did, but I know that between them and more satellites, it wasn't a contest.

[Codemus]

Ah, thats the thing, the last two were the strongest. Will to Live made the Will stat bonuses from ranking up larger, making it THE one to get if you want super Psionics. Die Hard (dunno if that is the name) makes your high level soldiers more likely to drop to critical condition instead of outright dying. A nice little safety net, but unless you are paranoid good tactics can make this one a non issue.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Originally Posted by Codemus

Will to Live made the Will stat bonuses from ranking up larger, making it THE one to get if you want super Psionics.

OK, fair enough, I keep forgetting about psionic humans. Do we know if the bonus is retroactive? Will my high-levels get it for all their levels, or should I plan to get a whole new set of low-levels soldiers?

Grey Wolf

[Codemus]

I don't believe it is, but I missed my opportunity to test it already. Its easy enough to test, just look at some random selection of soldiers will stat before and after you buy it.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Originally Posted by Codemus

I don't believe it is, but I missed my opportunity to test it already. Its easy enough to test, just look at some random selection of soldiers will stat before and after you buy it.

I'll keep it in mind and report back if noone else does. Not sure how far from psionics I am, but I can tell you I don't have 250 to spend on it at present. I need more satellites.

GW

[MCerberus]

Regarding the end of the thing:

Spoiler

Well that's a deniable sequel tease if ever I saw one. Considering the reviews, XCOM:EU2 is coming

[Codemus]

I sure hope it is. There is room for improvement, but the only stuff I can think of is just pidly little menu changes, maybe some more customization too.

Though if they change too much it wouldn't be XCOM anymore.

[CreganTur]

Someone found tags in the code that list DLC for 60, 90, and 120 days, so we might not have to wait for a next game.

[Codemus]

Oooo, nice. I wonder what they are. Now I regret that I don't have internet worth a damn at home. I have to miss out on all the DLC and patches.

[Bayar]

Somehow, I feel that Normal is kinda easy, even with Ironman enabled. I mean, the Psi lab is currently being constructed and so far, not too many fatalities. Sure, most assault units chill out in the Med Bay, but still.

At least it's good practice for Classic Ironman.

[mistformsquirrl]

I wanted to note about using Asia as a starting point:

Remember it isn't just the Officer Training School stuff that's discounted - you also get half-off on Foundry projects as well. So upgrading sidearms, your SCOPEs and the like is also cheaper.

That said Africa is probably where I'll start next - if nothing else because Africa totally quit on me in my current game, and I don't like that <T_T> Course the US quit on me too - and they even had a satellite!

The thing that was obnoxious about that really though, was that I never got a mission in the US. UFO shootdowns were all over Canada, abductions were mainly in Canada or Mexico. So when I'd do an abduction mission in North America it would only reduce panic for that one country; but if I skipped a North American abduction mission because there were more pressing ones, then US panic levels would rise. The sattelite held their leaving off at bay for a bit, but it didn't last.

Ticked off cause that +180 funding is worth 2 or 3 countries combined and there was nothing I could do to stop it. <x.x>

[Codemus]

Hmm... now the Foundry discount could be a deal breaker. Those things are pricy, and there is a lot of good stuff there.

[Gamerlord]

Argh, I think I've run into a bug that makes what I'm pretty sure is the final mission impossible to complete.

Spoiler

It's the Temple Ship, just after you defeat the pair of Sectopods. I cannot access the door that leads me to the next room, it doesn't show up in the standard camera (Fog of war seems to shroud it even when I am standing right next to it) and I cannot open it, but I can clearly see it in the glam cam, and there does not seem to be any other door to progress through.

Anyone know if there is a fix for this?

[Zevox]

Originally Posted by SlyGuyMcFly

Finally got my grubby mitts in the game. Yesss. My Preciousss.

Starting up in Classic-but-not-Ironman. Need to decide a naming scheme - I can't decide between "Ponies" and "Hollywood Stars That Have Defeated Alien Invaders In Their Movies"

Ponies would be hard to do, since this game's gender ratio for soldiers is almost the opposite of the show's gender ratio. I've had a hard time just getting a roughly 50/50 group for my Persona-theme character naming scheme.

Originally Posted by Codemus

On capturing aliens, once you research plasma weaponry, you get to use the guns you capture along with the aliens! Yes, you quite possibly never have to build a single plasma weapon if you get good at capturing critters.

I don't know if you get to interogate aliens multiple times, but I bet live aliens get a boat load of dosh on the grey market.

I don't think there are any aliens that use plasma sniper rifles, since I haven't seen any but I have gotten the achievement for doing autopsies on all the alien types, nor is there a plasma shotgun I think (that tier of shotgun is something called the Alloy Canon, it seems, which I don't think any alien uses either). And from what I've seen there's only one enemy type which uses heavy plasmas.

There is no option to interrogate aliens a second time, nor I think are you allowed to sell them. Not actually sure what you do with captures after the first - I know interrogation turns them into a corpse, because I was able to autopsy the one Ethereal I've seen after interrogating it, but I'm not sure if you end up with a corpse for further captures or not.

A question for others: do Hover SHIVs provide cover like an Alloyed SHIV or not? I'm basically wondering if they're a strict upgrade of the Alloyed version, or a variant. Also, has anyone tried regular SHIVs? I know they're definitely inferior to both of their alternate versions, and I got the Alloyed version too quickly to consider making the regular one before, but given the regular one doesn't require special materials I'm wondering if it may be worth trying after all, if only due to being easier to produce and replace.

Zevox

[Anarion]

Originally Posted by Codemus

Ah, thats the thing, the last two were the strongest. Will to Live made the Will stat bonuses from ranking up larger, making it THE one to get if you want super Psionics.

Originally Posted by Codemus

I don't believe it is, but I missed my opportunity to test it already. Its easy enough to test, just look at some random selection of soldiers will stat before and after you buy it.

Will to live isn't retroactive, I picked it up after Colonel Lyra Heartstrings tested psi-postive and her will didn't change. However, Scootaloo is the wave of the future and is probably going to break 100 will if I can keep her alive and get her some psi-armor.

Both squad size upgrades are obviously a must as well, and I think that +xp is totally worth it.

Originally Posted by Codemus

Hmm... now the Foundry discount could be a deal breaker. Those things are pricy, and there is a lot of good stuff there.

Really? I haven't much liked any of the foundry items. You do have several projects to get a good S.H.I.V., but I'm not certain that's strictly required. I haven't done the pistol research either, and that just doesn't seem worth my money compared to just buying more soldier armor and upgraded main guns and armor. Improved arc thrower was nice, and I haven't researched stealth satellites, but I'm a little worried that failing to get that might screw me later.

[Zevox]

Originally Posted by Anarion

Really? I haven't much liked any of the foundry items. You do have several projects to get a good S.H.I.V., but I'm not certain that's strictly required. I haven't done the pistol research either, and that just doesn't seem worth my money compared to just buying more soldier armor and upgraded main guns and armor. Improved arc thrower was nice, and I haven't researched stealth satellites, but I'm a little worried that failing to get that might screw me later.

The Foundry has some very useful stuff. Just looking at the list of things I've already researched and put to use:

Spoiler

Ammo Conservation - This one is huge, as it cuts your ammo use in half. It single-handedly makes abilities like suppress and flush painless to use, and basically makes it so that you should only need to reload in long engagements, unless you're using a lot of abilities like the afore-mentioned suppress and flush every round.

Improved Medkit - Medkits go from healing 4 hp per use to 6. Excellent, invaluable in late-game fights.

Alien Grenades - Gives you an unlimited supply of, well, alien grenades. Like regular grenades, but they do 5 damage instead of 3. Helps keep grenades useful in later missions.

Advanced Construction - I'm actually researching this just now, so I haven't used it yet, but it cuts the time to build SHIVs and, more importantly, facilities in half. It's a late-game one, but a very handy one.

All the SHIV stuff - maybe not strictly necessary, but very useful. Upgrade them with lasers and plasma, give them the suppress ability, allow arc throwers to repair them in battle, this stuff is nothing to sneeze at. Especially since, if worse comes to worst, they're more expendable than your human squad members, since they can be replaced just by building a new one.

Stealth Satellites - I don't know if this has made a difference, but I picked it up, and I can say that I haven't had any satellites shot down yet, so... yeah, might be an issue. Can't imagine why it's in there if it isn't.

I also have a project available to me called Advanced Flight, which would increase the flight time of my Archangel Armor and Hover SHIVs in battle. Don't know how much that would matter though, the armor already gets six turns of fuel, which has been far more than I've ever used it for.

Also, I think I'm progressing close to an endgame point. I've been holding off on my next story objective because I think it will trigger the last mission or two, an after that last story mission was so hard, I want to be prepared. But I just finished a UFO raid (landed, not shot down) that by all rights should have been harder. A ship with a crew of 18, including plenty of Muton Elites, two Sectopods, a couple of regular Mutons, and an Ethereal in charge. Not only did everyone get out alive, everyone got out without taking enough damage to require time off. Yeah, quite the contrast to my earlier mission. The improved armor and weapons I've been picking up made a huge difference.

Speaking of, something very nice I learned: if you mind-control an enemy and the aliens kill it, its weapon will not explode, and you will get it at the end of the mission. Don't know what the explanation for that is, but it's very nice. I got two Heavy Plasmas and a Plasma Rifle out of that last mission because of it (it was a long mission, so yeah, I actually had time to recharge mind control twice). On a related note though, Ethereals apparently have a psionic power capable of dealing 15 damage in one shot, as I saw the one from that mission one-shot a Muton Elite I mind-controlled with it. Scary, scary stuff.

My troops are getting up there in ranks too. I now have five Colonels (max rank), including one of each class, another six Majors, and a Captain. I did recently pick up three recruits that were appropriate for Persona characters I hadn't used yet (Naoto as a sniper, Fuuka as a support, and Aigis as a heavy), all of whom are still Squaddies or Corporals, and there's one more I'd like to add to my team (still don't have someone based on Mitsuru yet), so I may wait another month or so to train them. I'll need the missions I use to be easier ones though - don't want to bring raw soldiers on missions like that last one. Only the best for that.

Zevox

[Jamin]

This game is shockingly fun. I don't often go for the super hard games but this is alot of fun. I have had only one real major death but it was a col. support so that was sad.Still I have had to restart a few times. I feel like I get mostly heavies and very few of the other classes. This may end up being my game of the year. Also all these bugs you guys are talking about are they on the pc,Xbox or ps3 versions?