X-Com 2, Midnight Suns & Jagged Alliance 3

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

I am at the point now where the final mission is available, but I don't want to do it, because I want to keep playing!

I also want to have a full complement of Colonels go in for the final assault.

MOAR ALIENS MUST DIE

Yep I waited until I had 4 colonels and two near-max psi soldiers. Next play through Im going to focus on psi a lot earlier, some really powerful abilities are available.

A bit disappointed that I only ever had a single defense mission all game long, and that was before i invested in defenses for my ship.

[Edward64]

I'm at the final mission, did a save and will finish it up tomorrow.

Good game, some notes

1) I don't like how the reinforcements come in 3's and how their landing zone is telegraphed
2) Rangers were cool early on but I'm using up to 2 grenadiers in late stages and not using the Rangers
3) So far, I've not seen psionics play a major role?
4) Zombies seemed to be more cooler & more of a threat in the original
5) I'm okay with the countdown timer but it seems to "cheat" e.g. I knock it down and then there's a breakthrough and it jumps 3+
6) In the later stages, engineers seem to be more important than scientists
7) I don't like how you can buy colonels in the later stages ... seems like cheating

All-in-all, happy with purchase. Got about 90 hrs in (restarted once) and can see me playing through a 2nd time. However, am somewhat ambivalent about it ... it doesn't seem like a big leap from original X-Com and EU.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by Edward64

1) I don't like how the reinforcements come in 3's and how their landing zone is telegraphed

I'd like a bit more diversity with the reinforcements - not necessarily Gatekeepers or anything, but mix it up a bit. ADVENT soldiers and MECs are a pushover after about 50% through. Telegraphing their location makes it easy if you're in good shape to set up an ambush, but early on when you are struggling through missions it would probably make it a ton harder if they didn't.

2) Rangers were cool early on but I'm using up to 2 grenadiers in late stages and not using the Rangers

I think it comes down to play style, because I find them really, really useful. I think the combination of run-and-gun/bladestorm/untouchable is absolutely lethal in flanking aliens.

I'm usually rolling out 2 grenadiers, 1 ranger, 2 specialists (1 mech-focused, 1 medic), and a psi. Sharpshooters don't get much run from me once I get my hand on psis.

3) So far, I've not seen psionics play a major role?

As I said, I wish I'd gone down the psionics route earlier, because domination in particular is incredibly useful - better than a 1-shot kill against the toughest aliens you'll face.

6) In the later stages, engineers seem to be more important than scientists

Definitely.... Engineers are a lot more useful. I ran out of things to research quite early I think, where as I never seemed to have enough engineers to go around.

it doesn't seem like a big leap from original X-Com and EU.

Agree... I hope if they make a 3 they put more of a focus on base building and defense missions in your own base, like the original X-Com games.

[Edward64]

Done in 99 hours. The last 2 missions had several reloads. Hated those teleporting things.

Next time around I'll try not to cheat as much (and accept my losses)! Looking forward to the mods.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I just finished last night.

I really enjoyed the game. A lot.

I definitely found engineers to be way more useful than scientists. I only ever had one lab and didn't upgrade it until the very end. I always felt like I could use another engineer.

I almost always took 2 grenadiers. I love grenades. Just so useful at doing a good amount of damage and removing pesky cover. Once I got psi units, my six person team was: specialist, sharpshooter, ranger, psi, and 2 grenadiers.

The last mission was fun. At the end my team was spread out all over the map, basically in three teams of two.

I may replay the last mission again using different soldiers.

[bhlloy]

I didn't touch psi at all and had no problem with the game, but the final mission showed me what I may have been missing. If I did another play through I would definitely rush to psi as I imagine the game is quite different

I typically went 3 grenadiers, specialist and either 2 sharpshooters or 2 rangers depending on which of my colonels was healthy. Sharpshooters were nowhere near as powerful as the previous games but had some nice skills on the tree. And yeah, grenadiers were awesome and the colonel skill that meant you could start with a grenade and then shred was the best way to take down some of the heavier armor in the game. I had a bitch of a time keeping specialists alive because to take real advantage of them you couldn't use the foundry armor. Of my non cannon fodder rookies I think 80% of the guys I lost were specialists.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Done in 99 hours. The last 2 missions had several reloads. Hated those teleporting things.

Next time around I'll try not to cheat as much (and accept my losses)! Looking forward to the mods.

Started a new game past couple days. I've not been reloading as much and I'm getting my butt kicked.

[Ajaxab]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Started a new game past couple days. I've not been reloading as much and I'm getting my butt kicked.

+1 to this. I finished the game as well, but with multiple reloads. Now I've tried an Ironman game on the 2nd difficulty level and things are looking bleak. I like the idea of trying Ironman, but I feel like it makes the game more of a rogue-like experience. And it's tough to put in 10-15 hours and realize that I can't take this save any further.

It's still a great game though. I've definitely got my money's worth.

[nilodor]

Anyone having problems playing recently? I tried to play a bit last night but the game kept crashing to desktop (after 40 or so hours with no issues). Happened both in my save gave and for a new game, with and without mods.

[nilodor]

Been trying to do a legend-ironman run. First two were aborted after each time about the 5th mission in I was dumb and got my whole squad murdered. Thought run 3 was going the same way after I had my scout get spotted by a group that came up from behind/beside us and got blasted causing 2 of my 4 remaining soldiers to panic all the while reinforcements and another group were alerted to my position. Some harrowing moments later that crescendoed with my samurai blowing out a building, killing 2 troopers and an officer, I made it out with 4 of my team still, mostly, intact. I've never played a game that was such a mix of stress and euphoria.

[nilodor]

Dola: Apparently the first DLC is out XCOM 2's New DLC Adds A Dash OfÂ*Shadow Of Mordor To The Game

Hopefully it doesn't unbalance things too much

[MizzouRah]

I've had this game for quite some time and still haven't been able to play it.

[Marmel]

This has been on my wish list all year and it hasn't gone on sale at all! Still $60???!?!?

[nilodor]

Oh man the leaders are crazy. I just had a crazy sequence, didn't struggle too much with the first leader, took the two visits to get them, second leader shows up and runs into an overwatch, then all these badges start popping up, one of my soldiers executed them. Which in retrospect was kind of a bad thing as I didn't have good enough weapons for the third leader. They showed up on a vip mission, I was doing well, then they started doing their thing, which is super devastating to deal with, and the turns were ticking down. Then reinforcements dropped and I had to try and make a mad dash to the end. The same soldier ends up executing the leader, but unfortunately the 2 stunny's and officer that dropped wound up killing one of my guys and I had to leave two unconscious Majors (also far and away my best soldiers) behind. Going forward I don't have any snipers and I really need to recapture them in the next VIP mission. I'm wondering if the special gear is lost forever though...

[mckerney]

XCOM 2 is coming to consoles this fall, hopefully alongside performance increases that will also make their way to PC.

[Kodos]

Good news! Thanks, mckerney!

[Abe Sargent]

X Com 2 is on sale on STEAM this weekend


Save 33% on XCOM® 2 on Steam

[Honolulu_Blue]

Long War 2 for XCom 2 is now available on the Steam Workshop!

Steam Community :: Group Announcements :: XCOM 2

[BYU 14]

As if 300 hours in this game is not enough...

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

As if 300 hours in this game is not enough...

Yeah... You're about to double that, I reckon.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Okay, thoughts please.

Just got a new (second) XB1, so that I'm not so gaming deprived while the kid is away at school.

I'm loathe to buy duplicate titles and I'm not willing to requisition anything he's actively playing so I'm probably in the market for one more game to add to my limited number of options for a while.

I call the first console version the most fun I've ever had with a game I never came close to beating. I know, via FOFC & Google, that there's a kind of formulaic way to beat XCom1 but I've never had the patience to go that route. Is XCom2 similar in that regard, that there's a certain path/sequence of things that dramatically enhances your chances to beat it? Or is it more open-ended, with multiple ways to succeed?

Saw it new at Target on sale for $40 this week, so that's a plus.

Given what you now know about my historical relationship with XCom, good buy or bad buy, for me?

[Thomkal]

Hey Jon,

Don't have a link for you but Xcom2 is now or will be in Feb, $12 with the Humble Bundle Monthly, which you can sign up for, get your games, and unsubscribe right away if you don't want the service.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Hey Jon,

Don't have a link for you but Xcom2 is now or will be in Feb, $12 with the Humble Bundle Monthly, which you can sign up for, get your games, and unsubscribe right away if you don't want the service.

Thanks, but that's PC only right?

I don't have a computer in the house that'd come close to running it (or much of anything at this point) afaik.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Thanks, but that's PC only right?

I don't have a computer in the house that'd come close to running it (or much of anything at this point) afaik.

ah sorry didn't realize what you were using. Yeah think its only for PC's.

[Edward64]

Enjoying the Long War mod. In mission 5 or 6 now, its definitely harder & more challenging, and has more strategy re: infiltration. I'll experiment a little more and then re-start the game.

I had finished the base game and set it aside, so was really looking forward to this. Haven't been disappointed yet.

[djsatu]

Does anyone have any tips for a total noob to the game? Finished the tutorial level without a hitch, and just finished the first level on rookie as I've never played the first game before. I didn't create any characters before I started, and have upgraded a few members from the first squad, but now they are unavailable for the next level with new squad characters? Am I missing something here? Alot to take in right now with no explanation on most things. I thought rookie was going to be easy, but dang is this game tough already lol PS4 player also.

[nilodor]

Still waiting for the mac version of long war to come out. Bah

[Neon_Chaos]

Originally Posted by djsatu

Does anyone have any tips for a total noob to the game? Finished the tutorial level without a hitch, and just finished the first level on rookie as I've never played the first game before. I didn't create any characters before I started, and have upgraded a few members from the first squad, but now they are unavailable for the next level with new squad characters? Am I missing something here? Alot to take in right now with no explanation on most things. I thought rookie was going to be easy, but dang is this game tough already lol PS4 player also.

Are you playing XCOM vanilla with tutorial turned on?

[nilodor]

I think some of the keys to the game tactics wise are:

- Try to take on one group/pod at a time
- Get flanking shots when possible
- This means it's normally better to move and then shoot
- Use high ground when possible
- Try not to trade shots with the enemy (better to kill 2 then wound 3)
- If you can't kill them all be selective about who you leave active (sectoids tend to use psychic abilities and are bullet sponges early, so prioritize others over them)
- If you can't kill them all, be in full cover

On the research side, I tend to be play more aggressive so I try and go up the weapons tree early, it's important though to be making contact with new areas to get your income up.

Don't worry about the avatar project until it's full or almost full (just make sure you have access to the blacksite or a factory before it fully fills up).

The start is always hard because you are behind in tech, once you start feeling on terms with the aliens they will make another jump, it's not until the late game that you really get on top of them. Provided you can keep your soldiers alive until then.

If you like let's plays Marbozir and ChristopherOdd are good players to watch

[bhlloy]

Does anyone really understand or has had success with the Long War?

I've done a bit of research online, and understand that I'm supposed to follow the Find A Lead missions, and then complete the chain to liberate a region, but in practice that seems completely impossible, as when I get the next mission (or the one after that) the time for the mission is usually a couple of days or even a few hours, which basically makes it impossible. Do I just not have enough people doing intel to give me a chance to win these missions, or am I doing something else wrong?

[Groundhog]

Started putting some serious time into Xenonauts, and man, it makes X-Com look like an absolute walk in the park.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Does anyone really understand or has had success with the Long War?

I've done a bit of research online, and understand that I'm supposed to follow the Find A Lead missions, and then complete the chain to liberate a region, but in practice that seems completely impossible, as when I get the next mission (or the one after that) the time for the mission is usually a couple of days or even a few hours, which basically makes it impossible. Do I just not have enough people doing intel to give me a chance to win these missions, or am I doing something else wrong?

I think I understand it, but it has not really turned into any kind of significant success.

I can offer you this bit of advice:

There are quite a few missions with very low infiltration times - 2 to 3 days or less. Sending a full team in will never work, because the alien activity will go from "very light" or "light" to "moderate" or "heavy" and that's a death wish. Trying to complete a mission with "light to moderate" alien activity has been a challenge.

So, the trick for those missions is to send one shinobi. A single soldier. Outfit him with a sub-machine gun with as good a suppressor as you can (since you can add/remove gun mods at will), maybe a smoke or flash grenade and that's about it. You want the soldier to have as low an infiltration time and as high a movement as possible. The "shadow walk" ability (the one that reduces enemies' detective range) is key here, too.

The goal is to get the alien activity down to "extremely light" and the EVAC to one to two turns max.

You send your shinobi in solo and go pure stealth. Avoid contact. Kill no aliens. Get in and get out ASAP.

You can do this on some missions, not all of them. Any mission you need to hack a terminal, crack a safe, rescue people, or even assassinate (bring a much better gun if you have to assassinate someone) you can pull this off. Some are harder than others, but I've run a lot of successful solo stealth missions on all of these.

The hardest part, until you get the re-stealth ability, is surviving once you reach the objective. Calling for the Sky Ranger blows your stealth as does hacking a terminal, opening a prison door, cracking a safe, or assassinating a target. Once you do that, you just need to survive until you reach the EVAC zone. In some cases, it's easy because you're behind a wall and no alien pod can see you even when you break stealth. In some cases, it's really hard, because there are multiple pods around the objective and you just have to pray you find cover and they miss.

Since calling the Sky Ranger doesn't take an action, you do that first. Then you hack the objective, and then you have one move to try to hide/run or whatever. It's tricky, but it can be done.

I've managed to liberate one region so far. Once you get enough leads and intel (it helps having a lot of the resistance people on intel) you find a communication tower. You hack that and that gives you the regional alien base. Once you clear that out, you liberate the region.

I'm currently in a mission to go after my second communication tower. I cannot beat this mission. It's limited to 5 soldiers and it's impossible. There are a lot of pretty powerful aliens all over the map and there are constant reinforcements coming in. I could probably pull it off with if there were no reinforcements, but with them there's no chance. Advent Commandos are a fucking bitch.

So, to sum up: Solo shinobi stealth missions for very low infiltration time missions are key. Best to have ghost walk and the "does not trigger overwatch" skills to help survive. Get the alien activity down to "extremely light" if possible and a 1 to 2 turn EVAC time.

[jeff061]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Started putting some serious time into Xenonauts, and man, it makes X-Com look like an absolute walk in the park.

Yep, loved XCom 1/2. I've also put a ton of time into Xenonauts, there's an early hump you need to get over before everything clicks, but it really is a fantastic game.

Pro tip, if you haven't already, go to properties for the game, beta tab and switch to the Community branch. Haven't played for awhile, but last time I did that made several significant gameplay tweaks/improvements over the base game.

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

I think I understand it, but it has not really turned into any kind of significant success.

I can offer you this bit of advice:

There are quite a few missions with very low infiltration times - 2 to 3 days or less. Sending a full team in will never work, because the alien activity will go from "very light" or "light" to "moderate" or "heavy" and that's a death wish. Trying to complete a mission with "light to moderate" alien activity has been a challenge.

So, the trick for those missions is to send one shinobi. A single soldier. Outfit him with a sub-machine gun with as good a suppressor as you can (since you can add/remove gun mods at will), maybe a smoke or flash grenade and that's about it. You want the soldier to have as low an infiltration time and as high a movement as possible. The "shadow walk" ability (the one that reduces enemies' detective range) is key here, too.

The goal is to get the alien activity down to "extremely light" and the EVAC to one to two turns max.

You send your shinobi in solo and go pure stealth. Avoid contact. Kill no aliens. Get in and get out ASAP.

You can do this on some missions, not all of them. Any mission you need to hack a terminal, crack a safe, rescue people, or even assassinate (bring a much better gun if you have to assassinate someone) you can pull this off. Some are harder than others, but I've run a lot of successful solo stealth missions on all of these.

The hardest part, until you get the re-stealth ability, is surviving once you reach the objective. Calling for the Sky Ranger blows your stealth as does hacking a terminal, opening a prison door, cracking a safe, or assassinating a target. Once you do that, you just need to survive until you reach the EVAC zone. In some cases, it's easy because you're behind a wall and no alien pod can see you even when you break stealth. In some cases, it's really hard, because there are multiple pods around the objective and you just have to pray you find cover and they miss.

Since calling the Sky Ranger doesn't take an action, you do that first. Then you hack the objective, and then you have one move to try to hide/run or whatever. It's tricky, but it can be done.

I've managed to liberate one region so far. Once you get enough leads and intel (it helps having a lot of the resistance people on intel) you find a communication tower. You hack that and that gives you the regional alien base. Once you clear that out, you liberate the region.

I'm currently in a mission to go after my second communication tower. I cannot beat this mission. It's limited to 5 soldiers and it's impossible. There are a lot of pretty powerful aliens all over the map and there are constant reinforcements coming in. I could probably pull it off with if there were no reinforcements, but with them there's no chance. Advent Commandos are a fucking bitch.

So, to sum up: Solo shinobi stealth missions for very low infiltration time missions are key. Best to have ghost walk and the "does not trigger overwatch" skills to help survive. Get the alien activity down to "extremely light" if possible and a 1 to 2 turn EVAC time.

Cool, thanks for the insight. I've gone the opposite on some of the low infiltration time missions that I've thought have been completely necessary with a squad of 10, and while that might work early on against a million troopers and sectoids, it definitely doesn't against mutons and vipers and MECs

You must go through a ton of Shinobis, are you training all of your rookies up that way?

I sense a third restart in my immediate future

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Cool, thanks for the insight. I've gone the opposite on some of the low infiltration time missions that I've thought have been completely necessary with a squad of 10, and while that might work early on against a million troopers and sectoids, it definitely doesn't against mutons and vipers and MECs

You must go through a ton of Shinobis, are you training all of your rookies up that way?

I sense a third restart in my immediate future

I do go through a fair share. That said, I don't play in Iron Man Mode, so I have restarted a few missions if too many go tits up.

[JonInMiddleGA]

vanilla, on normal, this is probably the easiest rendition yet.

Which is to say that I'll still get my ass stomped, it's just taking me a little longer to get to that point.

Still fun, though I wish they'd not make it feel quite so rushed. The timered missions percentage is higher than I wish it was.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

vanilla, on normal, this is probably the easiest rendition yet.

Which is to say that I'll still get my ass stomped, it's just taking me a little longer to get to that point.

Still fun, though I wish they'd not make it feel quite so rushed. The timered missions percentage is higher than I wish it was.

I know you are on console, but Long War 2 on the PC definitely takes care of the easy factor and most every mission is timed so you can't just overwatch your way to victory. Fun, but brutal, one mission this morning took me over 45 minutes.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

I know you are on console, but Long War 2 on the PC definitely takes care of the easy factor and most every mission is timed so you can't just overwatch your way to victory. Fun, but brutal, one mission this morning took me over 45 minutes.

Trust me, "easier" is not a complaint coming from me. This is the series that has, by far, kicked my ass more thoroughly than any other. Not only have I never once beaten it, I've never really even come close.

Yet I still enjoy the game play enough to pay money (again) to have my ass clobbered. I'm happy enough to have made it through one night of game play without being completely wrecked to the point where a restart is the obvious choice.

I do think the timers are short for "normal" difficulty/easy or moderate missions though, probably by 1-2 turns. Several times I felt like "oh screw it, just make a mad dash & let the little digital characters die" was the option they were pushing too hard for you to take.

[Edward64]

New DLC War of the Chosen at $40. Surprised at the pricing, I think I'll wait for a sale.

[BYU 14]

That is steep for an expansion

[nilodor]

Agreed. Although it's supposed to be xcom 2.5 so I'm expecting quite a bit to come with it

[BYU 14]

I have been watching some of the Let's Play of X-Com 2: War of the Chosen and it really does look like a new game to me in a lot of ways. Definitely seems much more robust than a normal expansion.

I am definitely re-thinking getting this now as I have over 300 hours in X-Com 2 and this adds a ton of new stuff, different interactions and most intriguingly The Lost, X-Com's version of The Walking Dead. Adds so many more tactical considerations when they are involved, not to mention that the missions overall offer so many more tactical choices. Pretty sure they got me.

[Neon_Chaos]

I am preordered on the PS4 version, due out in two weeks.

[NobodyHere]

Normally I wouldn't spend $34 on an expansion, but I X-Com 2 was probably the most engrossing game I've played in the last 2 years and I have some extra free time coming up next week.

[NobodyHere]

Okay

Screw release day.
Maybe later

[Groundhog]

Sheesh, 30 gb.

[Groundhog]

30 mins in so far, and I really like the inclusion of cohesion, and more data/stats on screen (morale in particular). Load times are also dramatically fixed.

[nilodor]

Excited for this to eventually come out on mac. I know the campaign is supposed to be longer, I hope it's not long war long. I never did finish my campaign as I got bored with having to defend a haven or whatever everytime I wanted to try and get something done (although I'm pretty sure I would have won since I had several regions liberated),

[Groundhog]

Another hour or so in, and it's like a whole new game rather than an expansion. Difficulty seems to have dropped a little on the early missions at least, so keep that in mind when selecting the difficulty level.

[MizzouRah]

I played the crap out of Xcom EU but Xcom 2 didn't grab me as much. The DLC has been getting glaring reviews though so I might have to grab it over the weekend.