Who's preordering X-COM?

[Agent11]

Odd, I have a psi lab, and have used it. No crashes here. Maybe a driver or corrupted file?

 

[GoodRevrnd]

Then I get a better idea.... I run the heavy past a choke, and block it off with ghosted units...

Cue alien units wandering around aimlessly trying to get past my invisible wall. Score!

lol cheese. Points for creativity though.

 

[JeffNY35]

Ok, this game is good. Real good. Can't believe I didn't play the original. Iron man is the only way to play really adds the suspense needed for your choices having consequences.

Handful of minor gripes. There are somethings I really want to shut off. Like the damn voice that keeps telling me to report to mission control while I'm customizing my troops. Shut up! The popups everytime I choose say, oversee in battle. And really nitpicky but is like some more ways to customize my guys. No helmets? Al bodys are same size and little more weapon variety would be cool. I'm sure expansions and mods will address.

This might be one of the best games I have played in long time.

Doing really good on normal ironman. The challenge feels about right. I'm sure classic will be way more suspenseful.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Because when I press "Esc" it means I either want to pause, abort mission, load, save, or exit the game. It does NOT mean I want to sit there with my thumb up my ass watching cut scenes and mind controlled AI characters run around until the combat resolves (e.g. everybody dies.)

One of the other little things that annoys me is you can click to cancel any of the story cutscenes, but the majority of the short useless cutscenes like the skyranger taking off you need to hit esc to cancel. That and the startup logos not being cancelable >.< that always pisses me off in a game actually.

 

[acheron]

One of the other little things that annoys me is you can click to cancel any of the story cutscenes, but the majority of the short useless cutscenes like the skyranger taking off you need to hit esc to cancel. That and the startup logos not being cancelable >.< that always pisses me off in a game actually.

Pretty sure the startup logos aren't cancelable because the game is loading in the background. They did the same thing in Civ 5. Rather than having it switch from the intro logos/cut scenes to a static screen w/ progress bar, they just keep playing the video. The logo videos and stuff will stop as soon as the game loads.

 

[adlep]

I just bought the special edition over at the Microcenter. Oh well, productivity will go way down, but we have to reward those developers that make great games, right?
Also, I will start on a difficult level as I don't want to finish this game before Christmas...It took me 100s of hours to finish the original btw...

 

[GoodRevrnd]

Pretty sure the startup logos aren't cancelable because the game is loading in the background. They did the same thing in Civ 5. Rather than having it switch from the intro logos/cut scenes to a static screen w/ progress bar, they just keep playing the video. The logo videos and stuff will stop as soon as the game loads.

You can edit out the startup videos in the ini file and the game loads instantly (on a SSD anyway).

 

[QuantumPion]

Is there no way to sell old equipment? Sucks paying $100 for a laser and only using it for 2 battles. Or paying $160 for a plasma rifle and then finding more later so you have like 10.

 

[Agent11]

You will get requests to sell that stuff to the various governments as the game progresses.

 

[routerguy]

I think I'm going to have to start a new game for the fourth time...I *just* got laser weapons and am on a terror mission with 6 chrysalids, and 3 of those flying saucer things. Ugh, I don't understand how I am supposed to beat this when I lose 4-5 civies a turn. I may have spent too many resources on satellites and not enough on weapons/armor/officer training school. I am playing on classic difficulty.

 

[QuantumPion]

My other complaint is total lack of in-game info or manual. I have no idea what the weapons and armor stats are before buying them, kind of annoying.

 

[Agent11]

Yea I've played that terror mission. I found the most luck with 2 heavies, 2 snipers 1 support and 1 assault at that stage of the game. You need to have lots of suppress and rockets cause you cant deal damage as fast as the cyberdisks and you need suppress for the chrysalids so you get a free 100% shot on them, because they always move.

Later in the heavy tree you choose between an extra rocket, or all your AOE get an extra 2 dmg, including suppress( even if they dont move.) Coupled with the larger area of effect perk it is pretty nice.

Once you get titan armor and plasma rifles though a leveled assault becomes a real bad ass.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

I found early on assault w/ double shot is very useful for dealing with Chrysalids. I can't decide if I like rifle assault or support units for my basic troop though. They both have their merits, but Sprint is quite nice.

 

[datalink7]

I found early on assault w/ double shot is very useful for dealing with Chrysalids. I can't decide if I like rifle assault or support units for my basic troop though. They both have their merits, but Sprint is quite nice.

I find one Assault to be very nice. Double shot as you said, but also the one where he gets a free shot when someone moves within 4 squares (no overwatch required). This is also great for clearing Chrysalids as they always move within 4.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

Of course, the other trick to dealing with Chrysalids is extreme use of overwatch. Have everyone positioned, use one guy to scout to pop them, then pull him back. Have everyone else overwatch for free shots and then finish them again next turn. Most of the time when you do this they won't be able to run all the way to you to attack, they'll just run up next to you instead because they'll be too far.

Racing to save civilians is a lost cause.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Snipers make short work of chrysalids. Especially if you are lucky enough to have arch-angel armor and get one of the flat maps without buildings. Assaults with the close combat perk also works nicely, as you'll get a free shot when they come for you.

As for blaster bombs, they aren't nearly as useful as they were in the original. They can only be used by your heavies, and it not only upgrades your regular rocket, but also your shredder rocket. With the extra rocket damage perk, they are listed for 12 damage, which is a shame compared to the original BB, but will still work out for killing most groups of aliens. Its sad you only get these after a battleship encounter, which by that time, may be after you've beaten the game. BTW the best way to get a BS encounter it seems is to ignore an alien ship, and then the next one will be a BS looking to blow up one of your sattelites.

 

[CPA]

Tip: If you have kids, do not name your soldiers after them.

Question: Can you play in sandbox mode, eventually?

 

[irishScott]

Tip: If you have kids, do not name your soldiers after them.

Question: Can you play in sandbox mode, eventually?

Meaning? If you want to play perpetually just don't do the priority research.

 

[CPA]

Meaning? If you want to play perpetually just don't do the priority research.

ah, okay, though I was more thinking in the lines of a Civ 4/5 type mode, where you start off free to do what you want with no real storyline.

 

[irishScott]

ah, okay, though I was more thinking in the lines of a Civ 4/5 type mode, where you start off free to do what you want with no real storyline.

Well how would you defeat the aliens with no real storyline? The whole idea is you can't beat them conventionally.

But if you don't attack the battleship when it shows up, you can still get full tech/abilities and deal with the full variety of attacks for as long as you like. Effectively sandbox.

 

[Mem]

My special edition version just arrived,however my Samsung HD died lastnight(click of death) so I will have to wait a few days to get my gaming PC up and running once my HD arrives and OS is installed etc...why me lol ...

 

[Daverino]

After about a dozen false starts, I am finally rolling in a Classic Ironman game. Somehow, the one heavy that survives the first mission is still alive. I just completed the first two research events, so I don't think I'm too far along in the plot. It took a long time to capture a live alien. I actually got the Outsider first. But I haven't lost a single man in about four or five missions. I only have basic armor. My sniper has a laser pistol and one of my supports is carrying a light plasma rifle. I like giving up grenades for the nano-vests. I think the extra HP are worth it. Almost obsessive use of overwatch appears to be the key to victory. I think the motto for US Infantry in WWII was, 'find em, fix em, flank em, finish em.' Nothing could be more true in X-COM. Once you've established contact you want to isolate and kill what you've found before pressing on. Only in terror missions and bomb missions have I felt pressure to keep moving.

I've only encountered Chrysallids once. There were a pair of them in a terror mission in Brazil. Needless to say I almost crapped my pants when they appeared, especially when I saw that my weapons weren't hitting them hard at all. But they are aggressive and have to move. So I fell back a little and went into overwatch. They charged me and I was able to kill both before they could get into range.

Money seems to be the hardest thing to come by. Countries are always ready to panic and I want to get satellites up, but that requires constant building of uplink centers and power generators. I hardly have money left over to purchase equipment.

 

[kevinsbane]

Of course, the other trick to dealing with Chrysalids is extreme use of overwatch. Have everyone positioned, use one guy to scout to pop them, then pull him back. Have everyone else overwatch for free shots and then finish them again next turn. Most of the time when you do this they won't be able to run all the way to you to attack, they'll just run up next to you instead because they'll be too far.

Racing to save civilians is a lost cause.

Get ghost suits. Then racing to save civilians is also a good way to spot for your squad sight snipers. I think I did one terror mission where I saved 14/18 civilians just be running around invisibly.

Ghost suits are so OP. Grapple, invisibility, extra moves. The invisibility is ridiculously useful. Gets your snipers into position quickly and safely; doesn't trigger enemy aggro, you get a big crit bonus for attacking out of invisibility, useful as a panic button to get your team out of dicey situations... And you still get a decent amount of armour from it too.

 

[surfsatwerk]

What the X-Com games have taught me about life:

The adult me is just as incapable of saving the world as I was in my youth.

 

[thespyder]

Ok, so I finally fired it up for the first time this weekend. Played a couple of hours. Got mainly through the tutorial missions and then a few beyond.

Gotta say that I like the tactical turn based combat. i am getting used to the interface. And I am starting to figure out tactics that work.

I am struck by the fact that most things seem fairly scripted. This is a significant departure from the previous three games where each mission was more or less random. There were several different mission types. There were various terrains and that the combination usually lead to a variable encounter every time. So far, everything seems pretty much like they are leading you by the nose. And fairly linear.

Even the choice of upgrades for the soldiers seem extremely limiting. Each "Level" gives you two choices of advancement. And the loadouts are exchange one item for another. So grenade instead of SCOPE or Medi-pack.

It just seems that the entire strategy is 'This or That'. One or Zero. I seem to remember that the choices in the earlier games were more diverse and meaningful than that?

Still enjoying the experience. Just wondering if I am the only one who feels it being a bit "simplified" instead of richer games like, say GalCiv2 or something?