XCOM 2

[Dog Pants]

Couple of articles to speed things up and improve performance.

http://www.pcgamesn.com/xcom-2/xcom-2s- ... s-lock-key

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/0 ... mance-fix/

[Dog Pants]

I found out what the aliens do in those 'hidden movement' phases. Filthy bastards.

[buzzmong]

I've restarted my normal ironman campaign again. Not because I was in a death spiral, although admittedly not in a great position, but because certain features and mechanics aren't entirely clear.

The Advanced Warfare Centre for instance. Yes, it's basically a hospital, but it also grants a single non class perk for each soldier which is predetermined to happen at a random rank (thanks for the info RPS!). Great stuff, except that if the game has decided your soldier gets it when they hit Sergeant, then they'll never unlock it if they're that rank or past it. This means it's actually quite important to build it early on, and becomes a bit of waste later on if you've got a big pool of high ranked soldiers to rotate through (negating the need for faster recovery) as none of them will get bonuses.

Resistance Communications is another. It's the same silly Satellite mechanic from the first. It is less of a "do nothing but this" mechanic now as you've got a bit of freedom to do stuff around resources/supplies, but it still is very important to keep on top of it in order to keep a healthy amount of supplies, but crucially to be able to access the Black Site missions so as to not lose the game.

Jury is out on Psi-Ops so far, as I've managed to get 3/4 through the game without them in any way shape or form. This new play through will make sure I get them early on.

I'm quite enjoying it though, some of the new enemies are rather interesting.

[Dog Pants]

Yeah, I agree. I knew about the AWC too, but it only rarely gives you a bonus. I think I've had two or three, although admittedly Rapid Fire on my Grenadier with Holo-targeting is pretty brutal. I rushed that and Guerilla Warfare, but maybe if I'd rushed comms instead it would have evened out and I'd be better off in the long run. I think I might get overtaken by alien tech and have to restart before too long, so I'll try that.

[Dog Pants]

Ugh. This game is harrowing. Tougher enemies, time limits, missions where guys get left behind, barely an opportunity to stabilise downed troops, so many enemy melee units, early pressure in the strategic game... It's fucking stressful and I'm not sure I don't prefer the original because of it. Time will tell, and maybe on another run it will be going better, but where I couldn't wait to get back into alien blasting in XCOM, with XCOM 2 I'm dreading what horrors will befall my poor troops this time.

[buzzmong]

This second ironman pass is going dreadful. The morgue has been quickly filling up and I've only got 1 free red bar. Bad luck of getting a load of "escape" missions in a row also meant I was stuck ages waiting to purchase Predator armour as I only had 5 Advent Soldiers in the stores, which hasn't helped. I'm now low on troops, and only have 4 at Corporal or above.

Just started off a blacksite, the first I think, and it's a make or break mission for my run through as I know a Dark Event is coming up to add the final red.

Of note, things that would make the game better in my eyes:
1) I like Bradford, but sure as fuck the game shouldn't be stealing *all* control away when he speaks in a mission. The few missions where it really does need me to see something, like Blacksites, is fine, but not every couple of turns on fucking mission.
2) Timers on missions where appropriate should only start once you have broken cover. There's mods for it already, but it should have been in from day 0.

[shot2bits]

Timers on missions where appropriate should only start once you have broken cover. There's mods for it already, but it should have been in from day 0.

yeah this one does irritate me, i don't even mind the timers but its just a bit jarring, why the fuck have the aliens got timed explosives planted on whatever resources it is im trying to nick? if its something they where just going to destroy anyway why would you do it in the middle of a city in an office? and if the explosives are just there as a security measure then surely the timer wouldn't have already started before they know there is a threat.

with the black sites is it worth trying to do them early? does it prevent/stop dark events? i know it slows down the progress of the avatar doohickey but that doesn't mean you need to rush it unless there are other benifits.

[Dog Pants]

I did the first blacksite when I had the red countdown on the last square. It knocks about 4 levels off the Avatar project. After that they've struggled to catch up because the occasional subsequent blacksite mission, which are really no harder than any other (easier in fact, since they aren't timed), easily keeps them in check. I've not noticed them having any effect on the dark events.

[buzzmong]

Blacksites range from 1 to 2 for me. Possibly 4 as per Doggers.

The description says they slow down the project. Not entirely sure how coupled they are to the dark events on that front, I'd guess they wouldn't, as dark events are the ones having an affect on the project.

[buzzmong]

So, another campaign restart and I come bearing the following advice for Veteran Ironman's:

If your squads aren't rocking Warden Armour (or equiv) and fully kitted out with plasma guns before July in game, you've lost. It's that simple.

[buzzmong]

One nice little touch I've spotted recently is your "gravely wounded" soldiers actually gain scars. I've got a rather grizzled looking Lt. of a Specialist sporting some pretty hefty scars now.

[Dog Pants]

I've noticed that. Anery has some snazzy scars, courtesy of his weeble-like soldiering career.

[Dog Pants]

Phew. Finished it. That last mission was damn hard, although the stats at the end would suggest I had a harder time of it than average, having lost a lot more soldiers and earned a lot fewer resources.

I stick with the opinion I formed mid-game - I prefer the original. It has some nice unit skills and bad guys, and I like the setting a lot more than I expected, but it's just too stressful to be enjoyable. When I completed XCOM I wanted to immediately start again. I've had to horse myself to finish XCOM 2 and have no intention of starting another game soon, and when I do I'll be using mods to extend the timers and tone the whole thing down a bit.

[Dog Pants]

Okay, coincidentally I read this interview with Jake Solomon immediately after posting that last comment. In part it made me think about what I did like about XCOM 2, in part it made me annoyed, and in part it made me think about how they could have done it better.

I get his point about upping the tempo and putting in risk. I did have those relief moments and those moments of horror, but I felt cheated into doing it by the timers. I hate time limits unequivocally, in every game I've encountered them in. I find it very hard to believe that he didn't see this coming; he even paraphrases his beta testers "It just felt like, “fuck this, I’m reloading. I didn’t want to get seen then because I don’t want the pressure of this turn-timer.” That says to me that the testers didn't like them either. I'm pretty sure the timed missions in Enemy Within were met with some negativity too. So that's what annoyed me.

What would I have done? I think having a trickle of bad guys spawning at the edges of the map would have upped the stakes. If you dig in then eventually you'll get overwhelmed, but you're not forced to be reckless. It also means you've got to watch your flanks, leaving you with fewer troops bringing to bear on any given group of bad guys. Create yourself a bubble, rather than a line. It worked quite well on the Avenger defender mission. Tom Francis came up with a few ideas to stop people having a squad of supermen, which would help keep things tense too. One was that when someone does too many missions in a row they go up on the wanted posters and have to keep a low profile for a bit (so can't be used). Keep cycling those newbies through, develop a bigger roster of more interesting troops. On top of that, I'd make more use of the bleedout timer (which hardly ever kicked in for me) and having to carry out unconscious comrades lest they become captured. The anguish of knowing you can't get someone back, along with the faint hope that you might get to rescue them later, was a brilliant touch.

I did like the strategic game better. Interceptors and live capture interrogations feel like filler in hindsight. I like the experimental weapon/armour system. I like how you'll never have enough resources to chase all the options, you have to pick a strategy and stick to it. As I said before, I liked the theme despite not expecting to, and I think the classes and skills work better. I love that you can get random skills from other classes - that created some monsters. The missions had more variety and the maps were better than in the original.

So I liked the game, but I wish they'd have come up with a better idea than timers.

[buzzmong]

Did you unlock any Second Wave options upon completion Pantsu? I found in the first game they made subsequent playthroughs quite interesting.

Re timers: In Enemy Within I found they were perfectly okay (if occasionally impossible), but that's because they weren't tied into mission success or fail and were optional. I didn't really bother with Meld much though, apart from a couple of MEC troops.
Xcom2 not so much, I had to sacrifice a top specialist the other night simply because by the time I'd got near the objective to hack I was down to 2 turns and simply couldn't do *anything* to improve the odds when I broke cover as there wasn't enough time. That just felt unfair rather than pressurised as I'd done nothing wrong, just dropped on the opposite corner of the map and had 7/8 Advent guarding the objective.

I'm still slogging through this third attempt. I'm quite interested to see what the first proper patch will bring and also interested in the DLC. There's a new class in SHEN’S LAST GIFT, which'll probably be Xcom MEC troops due to the "unique upgradable weapons" blurb on the store page.

[Dog Pants]

I've just gone into the new game screen again and can't see any second wave options. Bit of a shame, although there are day-1 mods out so they might have thought that was as good.

[buzzmong]

Salvaged the play through, now doing really well at the moment and I'm deep into September.

Things I've spotted:
1) Psi-ops are really, really powerful. Null Lances *everywhere*!
2) Reducing the Red Blocks definitely slows down the dark events. Just under the mid point and it's approx 12 weeks to the next one, whereas when it was near max it was 2-4 weeks.

[Joose]

1) Psi-ops are really, really powerful. Null Lances *everywhere*!

Very this, especially the top tier stuff. They are a bit shit for the first couple of levels, but I dont think I would have made it through the last mission without my max level psychic.

[Dog Pants]

I did the last mission with no psis; I came to it late and the three I had were pretty new (Grimmie and Bits were two of the three). I did have two kick-ass heavies due to bonus abilities from the command centre - Anery with the sniper's power shot, which did shitloads of damage, and a random with the ranger's rapid fire. Combine both with holo-targeting for huge damage output. However, mind control was a bitch, and the Codices with their malfunction AoE really fucked me up. I fluked the last Avatar when Anham (support) got a lucky execute at extreme range, by which time most of the squad was dead.

[buzzmong]

Long War 2 mod is out.

It's been made by the guys behind Long War in conjunction with Firaxis. It changes a lot of stuff. Geoscape and all. I never played the original but it's considered very good. Will probably have a go with this over the weekend.