Who's preordering X-COM?

[thespyder]

Spoiler

It never occurred to me that it would work on mechs.

Spoiler

ditto

 

[kevinsbane]

Spoiler

It never occurred to me that it would work on mechs.

Spoiler

My latest Classic/Ironman campaign, I set up to take them out using ghost armour...

Then my volunteer goes and oneshots both. Waste of 5 cloak charges.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I did find a bug on the last (Temple) mission.

When the aliens KO one of your dudes, The Voice™ gloats just like when they die.

When you revive them, The Voice™ also gloats. I guess because it's just reading the state change and not registering what's happening.

 

[thespyder]

I did find a bug on the last (Temple) mission.

When the aliens KO one of your dudes, The Voice™ gloats just like when they die.

When you revive them, The Voice™ also gloats. I guess because it's just reading the state change and not registering what's happening.

Yeah, that isn't the worst bug in that sequence. Funny, but not the worst.

all in all, I think it is a very good game. But there are several game breaking bugs and a few design choices that hold it back and prevent it from becoming the GREAT game that it definitely could have been.

 

[Howard]

Spoiler

It never occurred to me that it would work on mechs.

You wouldn't think it, but it does insane damage.

 

[thespyder]

You wouldn't think it, but it does insane damage.

I thought it was something that you were supposed to save until the 'Final Battle'. So I didn't use it until then. Boy was that a mistake.

Still, I got through the entire mission without a single loss (after 5 tries, three of which were as a result of a bug).

 

[Daverino]

Top 10 Gripes thus far:

1. 'Plot' is very linear. It tells you what to do next and you do it. Eventually the game ends. I would have liked more of a cat-and-mouse feeling at the end, where you attempt to track the location of the final mission while the threat grows. If you push the plot too fast, you'll get screwed fast too.

2. The 'Hangar' seems to be an afterthought (actually interception does). When you see one button that only leads to another one button, you know something is not right. Interception missions are rare enough that you don't need to spend much time here.

3. Most of the items you can make are junk. There is no way to see the description or attributes of an item until after you make it.

4. I have no idea why I would ever need to make a laboratory. I have no idea why I would want 'research credits.' It would just make the game get to the end point faster than it should.

5. There is no easy way to tell if a soldier has taken a Will penalty from a grave wound.

6. Soldiers sent to the Psi Lab don't automatically unequip.

7. Officer training school is very shallow and, again, a bit of an afterthought.

8. You should be able to pick up medkits from downed soldiers. That still burns me.

9. You should be able to save loadouts and customizations so you can apply them easily to new soldiers.

10. Something a little rougher should take place on the final mission on an Iron Man run. It is so jarring that you can repeat the mission over again until you win. Perhaps you could call in any person on your roster when a team member goes down? But if you totally run out, that's it?

 

[Howard]

I thought it was something that you were supposed to save until the 'Final Battle'. So I didn't use it until then. Boy was that a mistake.

Still, I got through the entire mission without a single loss (after 5 tries, three of which were as a result of a bug).

Were you doing Ironman? If not, you could've just tried it out right at the beginning and reloaded if there were negative consequences. Almost immediately I found out it was just a 5 turn cooldown.

 

[Howard]

Top 10 Gripes thus far:
3. Most of the items you can make are junk. There is no way to see the description or attributes of an item until after you make it.

4. I have no idea why I would ever need to make a laboratory. I have no idea why I would want 'research credits.' It would just make the game get to the end point faster than it should.

5. There is no easy way to tell if a soldier has taken a Will penalty from a grave wound.

6. Soldiers sent to the Psi Lab don't automatically unequip.

8. You should be able to pick up medkits from downed soldiers. That still burns me.

10. Something a little rougher should take place on the final mission on an Iron Man run. It is so jarring that you can repeat the mission over again until you win. Perhaps you could call in any person on your roster when a team member goes down? But if you totally run out, that's it?

3. Not really. You can look up what everything is/does online very easily.

4. Labs increase research speed AFAIK but aren't that important unless you need the extra scientists. Research credits increase the research speed of certain topics. Comes in handy. It doesn't push the plot forward when you do this.

5. Critically-wounded soldiers take an automatic -15 Will penalty if they survive.

6. This is a top 10 gripe?

8. Adding this feature probably would've pushed out the delivery date too long. You'd have to be able to decide if you wanted to throw away what you've already got unless you had an open slot for an item.

10. The more you know! lol

 

[thespyder]

3. Not really. You can look up what everything is/does online very easily.

4. Labs increase research speed AFAIK but aren't that important unless you need the extra scientists. Research credits increase the research speed of certain topics. Comes in handy. It doesn't push the plot forward when you do this.

5. Critically-wounded soldiers take an automatic -15 Will penalty if they survive.

I think his point was that this information (and a few other things) is not made readily available either in game or in the (laughs) Manual. neither is the fact that, in certain circumstances, you get hidden bonuses/penalties 'To Hit'.

6. This is a top 10 gripe?

I know it is in mine. I can't tell you how many times I went looking for something to equip a second stringer only to realize it was unavailable because someone not on active duty had it locked up in their locker.

8. Adding this feature probably would've pushed out the delivery date too long. You'd have to be able to decide if you wanted to throw away what you've already got unless you had an open slot for an item.

Bull. If that functionality took more than a couple of days to code and test I would be seriously surprised. Now, I fully admit that it might have been left out for balancing purposes. But no way was it time constraint.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

So the most annoying bug I encountered was dashing my assault (per lightning reflexs) towards someone overwatched. He gets critically wounded from the hit and careens off the map where I obviously can't revive him now.

 

[thespyder]

Here's My top (11) gripes with the game.

1. Plot is a bit linear and doesn’t really lend itself to replay. Once you complete the game, I really didn’t find that I had any desire to go back on a higher level.

2. Tech trees seem a bit shallow for a Tactical/strategy game.

3. Mission boards a bit too small and not varied anywhere near enough. Again, speaks to limited replay-ability.

4. Tutorial is significantly longer than it needs to be and not really to any specific point. Most of what you need to learn about the game comes from merely trial and error rather than the tutorial. Plus, the tutorial, which also doubled as the Demo, didn’t really accurately reflect the game play.

5. Only one base. This leads to a whole host of issues.

a. Suspension of disbelief when heading out on the Sky ranger for some place all the way around the world for a terror mission. Apparently the aliens are just hanging out and chilling for 10-12 hours until your soldiers arrive.
b. No Base attacks on the part of the Aliens. With the ranger always coming from the same general location, you would think that the aliens would focus on that area and attempt to take out the opposition in one swoop.
c. No real reason for the 99 soldiers that you can get because you either have an A team or a B team. Even with a C, D and E team if one whole squad gets wiped out, that’s only 6 members out of 30. And then with a max of 6 members per mission, there really isn’t enough missions to get more than about 30 up to any kind of level appropriate for the heavy dangerous stuff.

6. Absolutely zero reason for hand-guns (exception being for snipers). There is no situation when using your rifle isn’t better. Further, unlimited reloads on VERY limited ammo just seems stupid. And limiting energy weapons to the same mechanic as slug throwers is just laziness.

7. Alien equipment exploding upon death of the user. This was clearly done to limit the stockpiling of alien weapons and to increase the value of the Ark-Throwers. It’s artificial and really kind of lame.

8. Inability to assign a class to a soldier. I can’t tell you how many extra snipers I had at one point during the game when what I needed was another Assault. Every new soldier I brought on board became a sniper or a heavy. Give the soldiers stats that lend themselves towards one class or another, but allow the player to decide (higher accuracy for snipers, better with explosives for Heavies and more movement for Assaults, or some such).

9. Loadouts artificially limited to one weapon, one sidearm, one suit of armor and one (or two) ‘Extra slots’. Done clearly for balance concerns, it made things really artificial in my mind.

10. A fair amount of useful and important information is not readily available in game. Sure you can search the net to find it, but that’s not really a sign of a well thought out and intuitive game design.

11. A bunch of small things like the fact that autopsies give you their VO at the beginning of the research rather than at the end like it should be. No real ‘Need’ for research or work labs to complete the game. Upgraded facilities still leave the base facilities as choices to build. Inactive or off duty soldiers don’t disarm/divest themselves of equipment. Hanger seems to be ‘Tacked on’ with no real purpose.

 

[Howard]

I think his point was that this information (and a few other things) is not made readily available either in game or in the (laughs) Manual. neither is the fact that, in certain circumstances, you get hidden bonuses/penalties 'To Hit'.



I know it is in mine. I can't tell you how many times I went looking for something to equip a second stringer only to realize it was unavailable because someone not on active duty had it locked up in their locker.



Bull. If that functionality took more than a couple of days to code and test I would be seriously surprised. Now, I fully admit that it might have been left out for balancing purposes. But no way was it time constraint.

Even with the additional graphics?

 

[Howard]

6. Absolutely zero reason for hand-guns (exception being for snipers). There is no situation when using your rifle isn’t better. Further, unlimited reloads on VERY limited ammo just seems stupid. And limiting energy weapons to the same mechanic as slug throwers is just laziness.

7. Alien equipment exploding upon death of the user. This was clearly done to limit the stockpiling of alien weapons and to increase the value of the Ark-Throwers. It’s artificial and really kind of lame.

6. No, there is. Chipping away at an enemy's health can significantly increase the likelihood of a successful stun.

7. Well, you need more weapon fragments rather than weapons, especially for research.

 

[irishScott]

7. Well, you need more weapon fragments rather than weapons, especially for research.

Also, assuming you're the head of an advanced race with a bunch of genetically bred soldiers, wouldn't you want to make it impossible for your enemies to use your weapons against you?

 

[Howard]

Also, assuming you're the head of an advanced race with a bunch of genetically bread soldiers, wouldn't you want to make it impossible for your enemies to eat you for sustenance?

fixed

 

[WildW]

My only real gripe is that lasers can shoot holes in walls by accident but I can't laser my way through a wall onto an enemy flank. Or indeed, I can't fire at the exploding barrel an alien is standing next to.

 

[Sureshot324]

b. No Base attacks on the part of the Aliens. With the ranger always coming from the same general location, you would think that the aliens would focus on that area and attempt to take out the opposition in one swoop.

The same is true for any FPS. Once they know you're there, why doesn't every enemy in the entire level come at you at once? It just wouldn't be good from a gameplay perspective.

6. Absolutely zero reason for hand-guns (exception being for snipers). There is no situation when using your rifle isn’t better. Further, unlimited reloads on VERY limited ammo just seems stupid. And limiting energy weapons to the same mechanic as slug throwers is just laziness.

Shotgunners have a use for pistols as well. Again many unrealistic things in this game are done for gameplay's sake. The whole concept of a turn based strategy game is extremely unrealistic so I don't see why this is a problem.

 

[Daverino]

Regarding base attacks: Perhaps that would have made a better end game. Once the Temple Ship appears, the clock starts ticking and your base can get raided. The attacks get more and more powerful until you either are forced to attack the aliens or you lose your base.

Regarding pistols: They are hella useful. For snipers and shotgunners, it is obvious. If you want to capture an alien with an arc-thrower, they are necessary to wound them. And honestly, I cannot tell you how many times I needed one more shot and my primary was out of ammo.

 

[Martimus]

Top 10 Gripes thus far:

1. 'Plot' is very linear. It tells you what to do next and you do it. Eventually the game ends. I would have liked more of a cat-and-mouse feeling at the end, where you attempt to track the location of the final mission while the threat grows. If you push the plot too fast, you'll get screwed fast too.

2. The 'Hangar' seems to be an afterthought (actually interception does). When you see one button that only leads to another one button, you know something is not right. Interception missions are rare enough that you don't need to spend much time here.

3. Most of the items you can make are junk. There is no way to see the description or attributes of an item until after you make it.

4. I have no idea why I would ever need to make a laboratory. I have no idea why I would want 'research credits.' It would just make the game get to the end point faster than it should.

5. There is no easy way to tell if a soldier has taken a Will penalty from a grave wound.

6. Soldiers sent to the Psi Lab don't automatically unequip.

7. Officer training school is very shallow and, again, a bit of an afterthought.

8. You should be able to pick up medkits from downed soldiers. That still burns me.

9. You should be able to save loadouts and customizations so you can apply them easily to new soldiers.

10. Something a little rougher should take place on the final mission on an Iron Man run. It is so jarring that you can repeat the mission over again until you win. Perhaps you could call in any person on your roster when a team member goes down? But if you totally run out, that's it?

Interception was an afterthought in the original game. The lack of much gameplay in interception has carried over in that way, but they definitely didn't take the opportunity to make that part better.

There actually is a way to see what you are going to build will do without building it. You select the item to build and press the question mark in the lower left of the screen. It will give you a description of what the item will do.

My biggest complaints are the gameplay choices they made that stop replay value (for me at least). The constant multiple terror missions at the same time without a chance to intercept the enemy keeps me from trying to create a defense to handle all of the alien invasions. That was the biggest thing that made me replay the game over and over again in the original.

 

[darkewaffle]

Picked it up over the weekend, mostly positive. My main complaints are with the camera [controls] being a bit cumbersome or "loose" (particularly with free-aiming and panning) and some somewhat questionable gameplay decisions WRT line of sight/cover/range but I'm guessing I'll get used to it. I like the micromanagement and the setting/mood quite a lot, and the gameplay itself is mostly solid.

 

[Martimus]

The same is true for any FPS. Once they know you're there, why doesn't every enemy in the entire level come at you at once? It just wouldn't be good from a gameplay perspective.



Shotgunners have a use for pistols as well. Again many unrealistic things in this game are done for gameplay's sake. The whole concept of a turn based strategy game is extremely unrealistic so I don't see why this is a problem.

The thing is that the original had this gameplay element. The aliens would send scouts out following your skyranger home. You had to shoot them down, or the aliens would send a battleship to invade your base.

 

[thespyder]

Even with the additional graphics?

Why would you need anything other than the existing loadout screen? So, Yes, even the enhanced graphics.

6. No, there is. Chipping away at an enemy's health can significantly increase the likelihood of a successful stun.

7. Well, you need more weapon fragments rather than weapons, especially for research.

You are making excuse for poor game design. Not coming up with explanation as to why it makes sense.

The same is true for any FPS. Once they know you're there, why doesn't every enemy in the entire level come at you at once? It just wouldn't be good from a gameplay perspective.

Which would be fine if this were an FPS.

Shotgunners have a use for pistols as well. Again many unrealistic things in this game are done for gameplay's sake. The whole concept of a turn based strategy game is extremely unrealistic so I don't see why this is a problem.

I didn't play around with the shotgun much, but my recollection was that they were single action fire just like the assault rifles. So how does having a pistol help Shotgunners?

And as with Howard's statements, how is making excuse for poor game designs justifying not using better game designs?

 

[JamesV]

The 'lockup' bug is driving me crazy. Just about to finish a mission, and no binds work, can't get into the menu or do anything, so have to kill task. Sound runs, animations play, but the whole UI is broken. Thought it had something to do with reloading, but I'm still getting it. This one single bug will be the reason I quit this game; and the one reason I cannot recommend the game.

Until I get royally pissed off it at, can anyone answer some questions?

1. Is there anway to start a mission in a country that is nearly panicking without getting lucky that an abduction mission has taken place there?

2. Is there any benefit to capturing the same type of alien multiple times?

3. Is it possible to shoot down the first 'fast' UFO that only gives you a few seconds in the encounter screen? Tried a Firestorm(?) with the thing that lets you go faster to no avail.

4. Late game, it will not let me make any more Firestorms, saying I need 2 UFO power sources, but I have 4 in the 'bank'. Something I'm missing here?

 

[Clinkster]

The 'lockup' bug is driving me crazy. Just about to finish a mission, and no binds work, can't get into the menu or do anything, so have to kill task. Sound runs, animations play, but the whole UI is broken. Thought it had something to do with reloading, but I'm still getting it. This one single bug will be the reason I quit this game; and the one reason I cannot recommend the game.

Until I get royally pissed off it at, can anyone answer some questions?

1. Is there anway to start a mission in a country that is nearly panicking without getting lucky that an abduction mission has taken place there?

2. Is there any benefit to capturing the same type of alien multiple times?

3. Is it possible to shoot down the first 'fast' UFO that only gives you a few seconds in the encounter screen? Tried a Firestorm(?) with the thing that lets you go faster to no avail.

4. Late game, it will not let me make any more Firestorms, saying I need 2 UFO power sources, but I have 4 in the 'bank'. Something I'm missing here?

1. No
2. No additional research benefit is granted. You do get their weapon though (usually plasma, which is really expensive).
3. Get a good weapon or use that one power-ups.
4. If they're not damaged, I have no idea what's wrong.