X-Com

[Critch]

Slingshot = Three new linked missions (two of which are pretty much the same as basic missions), a Heavy Lieutenant that joins early, and a new rocket launcher to research.

Pretty crap for $7 really.

[Neon_Chaos]

Latest patch is out!

XCOM Enemy Unknown

Second Wave options have been unlocked! Woowoo. This patch looks to be better than the DLC. Heh.

[Shepp]

I wouldn't get to excited, folks over on the 2k forum are reporting the teleporting alien bug is as bad as ever. Today is my friday so I'll probably be firing this up over the weekend to see for myself.

[mckerney]

Also included is the addition of Chris Kluwe as a hero character for beating one of the devs in a best of three multiplayer series.

[Abe Sargent]

Just finished my first run though after 21 hours. I'm not sure what aspect of that was supposed to be hard. Everybody was talking about it being a hard game, and I didn;t see that at all.

[jeff061]

Bump it up a difficulty setting.

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by jeff061

Bump it up a difficulty setting.

To impossible? Nah.


I don;t see the usefulness of replaying it anyways. I hear th eplot and missions are the same, the maps are the same and already bore me, etc. I don't see myself giving it another day or three, especially since it's a slightly dumbed down, although still fun, version of Xcom

[Neon_Chaos]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

To impossible? Nah.


I don;t see the usefulness of replaying it anyways. I hear th eplot and missions are the same, the maps are the same and already bore me, etc. I don't see myself giving it another day or three, especially since it's a slightly dumbed down, although still fun, version of Xcom

You played Ironman-Classic?

[Abe Sargent]

Not Ironman. Yuck. I like having more than one save slot, which I needed since my game crapped out on me and magically deleted my some of saves

I like loading up previous maps and looking over old missions. Could never play Ironman with that.


I had lost 9 people going into the final mission, and then lost half my squad there, and I was so pleased that I had done it with single digit losses heading up to that!


I could never get into heavies. They just get one shot per mission until later, and they suck. i'd rather have two supports, assaults and snipers than sacrifice one of those useful folks for a crappy heavy.



Edited for grammar!

[Edward64]

Waiting for a significant DLC to play the next round. No real desire to boot it up again because it did feel so scripted.

Playing Space Rangers for the nth time.

[Abe Sargent]

Sorry, my bad, looked it up and it took me 23 hours, not 21.

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

I could never get into heavies. They just get one shot per mission until later, and they suck. i'd rather have two supports, assaults and snipers than sacrifice one of those useful folks for a crappy heavy.

Really? I thought heavy was pretty effective.

They have that "oh crap" rocket for early in the game survivability of the entire unit. That gets less effective later but AOE suppression, damage reduction, and two shots per turn (with no aim penalty) instead of one never gets less effective. Give them the heavy plasma and they can do almost 30 damage on a single turn.

I ended up running 2 Assault, 2 Support, 1 Heavy, 1 Sniper on big ship based missions and 1 Assault, 2 Support, 1 Heavy, 2 Snipers on missions out in the open.

[Shepp]

Originally Posted by dubb93

Really? I thought heavy was pretty effective.

They have that "oh crap" rocket for early in the game survivability of the entire unit. That gets less effective later but AOE suppression, damage reduction, and two shots per turn (with no aim penalty) instead of one never gets less effective. Give them the heavy plasma and they can do almost 30 damage on a single turn.

I ended up running 2 Assault, 2 Support, 1 Heavy, 1 Sniper on big ship based missions and 1 Assault, 2 Support, 1 Heavy, 2 Snipers on missions out in the open.

Not to mention "Heat Ammo" make them pretty effective against Cyberdisks and Sectopods.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by dubb93

Really? I thought heavy was pretty effective.

They have that "oh crap" rocket for early in the game survivability of the entire unit. That gets less effective later but AOE suppression, damage reduction, and two shots per turn (with no aim penalty) instead of one never gets less effective. Give them the heavy plasma and they can do almost 30 damage on a single turn.

I ended up running 2 Assault, 2 Support, 1 Heavy, 1 Sniper on big ship based missions and 1 Assault, 2 Support, 1 Heavy, 2 Snipers on missions out in the open.

Big fan of heavies too. Usually run 2 of them 2 support, 1 Sniper and 1 assault. Team a heavy and a support and the sniper and assault.

[Abe Sargent]

Maybe part of it was that I used the mobile snipers rather than the squadwatch ones. Mobility is very important, and firing lanes aren;t always easy. I started with squadwatch ones, then tried out the other and loved it. Finish with the In the Zone and you can blow out a ton of bad guys in one turns with two snipers assisted by two Assaults running and smashing and two supporters to heal both. A leveled Assaulter or Sniper will outclass a leveled heavy every time I think.

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

Maybe part of it was that I used the mobile snipers rather than the squadwatch ones. Mobility is very important, and firing lanes aren;t always easy. I started with squadwatch ones, then tried out the other and loved it. Finish with the In the Zone and you can blow out a ton of bad guys in one turns with two snipers assisted by two Assaults running and smashing and two supporters to heal both. A leveled Assaulter or Sniper will outclass a leveled heavy every time I think.

I tend to use the "sniper as a carry" strategy with squadsight. I never realized how powerful squadsight was until my second playthrough.

With squadsight the games can become easy mode. Any map that isn't a giant ship turns into getting your sniper(s) into a corner of the map at elevation. From there he can cover the entire map at about 95% accuracy. They tend to just absolutely slaughter everything and get almost all of your kills.

With doubletap you can kill four aliens every other turn, and it is usually available everytime new aliens pop out.

Different play styles I guess, but this one is much safer and tends not to lose anyone at all.

[Abe Sargent]

Yup yup, just different strats, no prob, good stuff when a game lets ya do that.

[JonInMiddleGA]

My partial first playthrough has been on hold for quite a while now, but the comment about the sniper strategy surprises me. I've yet to see one that was much more than a frequently missing (like 80-90 percent of the time) waste of a slot.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

My partial first playthrough has been on hold for quite a while now, but the comment about the sniper strategy surprises me. I've yet to see one that was much more than a frequently missing (like 80-90 percent of the time) waste of a slot.

Once you get a scope and a few levels on them they hit just about everything.

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

My partial first playthrough has been on hold for quite a while now, but the comment about the sniper strategy surprises me. I've yet to see one that was much more than a frequently missing (like 80-90 percent of the time) waste of a slot.

Pretty much how I felt the first time too.

They really are the be-all-end-all of XCom though.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Shepp

Not to mention "Heat Ammo" make them pretty effective against Cyberdisks and Sectopods.

I found heavys fairly underwhelming until going against sectopods. Being able to take one out solo in a single turn is incredibly helpful. When sectopods aren't on the field I'd probably rather have another medkit or sniper rifle though.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by dubb93

I tend to use the "sniper as a carry" strategy with squadsight. I never realized how powerful squadsight was until my second playthrough.

With squadsight the games can become easy mode. Any map that isn't a giant ship turns into getting your sniper(s) into a corner of the map at elevation. From there he can cover the entire map at about 95% accuracy. They tend to just absolutely slaughter everything and get almost all of your kills.

With doubletap you can kill four aliens every other turn, and it is usually available everytime new aliens pop out.

Different play styles I guess, but this one is much safer and tends not to lose anyone at all.

For my second playthrough I think I might have to try making two sets of sniper squads, one with Squad Sight for missions with wide open maps and another with Snap Shot for downed ship missions. My best squad sight snipers were getting three of four kills a mission but once you had to actually go in a ship they become useless due to firing restrictions after moving.

[RendeR]

I picked this up on a steam sale last week. I've attempted 3 play throughs so far.

Try 1: utter failure about 10 missions in, as I knew nothing and it showed.

Try 2: got further, had things rolling until a terror mission not only slagged my entire 6 man vet squad decked out in carapace armor and lasers, but the loss also sent 6 nations in panic who all then left at the end of the month....

3rd try: Got things rolling well had an awesome squad of 4 people that I added rookies to to use for bait and to groom for future use (whichever managed to happen) everything was going great until I misjudged a missile shot.....*BOOM* blew up 4 of my 6 suad members along with 2 mutons.... from there is just spiraled to a gruesome death. So here I sit after playing for hours on end debating the intelligence of starting completely over again.


OI

[flounder]

In case anyone hasn't seen it, they're coming out with an iPad version.

[path12]

I finished my first play-through just last weekend, and I NEVER end up finishing games like this. Just on normal difficulty though. I'll go classic for one more run.

RendeR, go slow, stay in cover is the only real advice I have. Get to plasma weapons as soon as you can. And agree with those who say snipers are awesome once they get a scope and experience -- but I have trouble getting them in good position sometimes.

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by RendeR

I picked this up on a steam sale last week. I've attempted 3 play throughs so far.

Try 1: utter failure about 10 missions in, as I knew nothing and it showed.

Try 2: got further, had things rolling until a terror mission not only slagged my entire 6 man vet squad decked out in carapace armor and lasers, but the loss also sent 6 nations in panic who all then left at the end of the month....

3rd try: Got things rolling well had an awesome squad of 4 people that I added rookies to to use for bait and to groom for future use (whichever managed to happen) everything was going great until I misjudged a missile shot.....*BOOM* blew up 4 of my 6 suad members along with 2 mutons.... from there is just spiraled to a gruesome death. So here I sit after playing for hours on end debating the intelligence of starting completely over again.


OI

HAHA...I knew you would get hooked....

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by flounder

In case anyone hasn't seen it, they're coming out with an iPad version.

Ooooo. I could play this during my train time each day...

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by RendeR

I picked this up on a steam sale last week. I've attempted 3 play throughs so far.

Try 1: utter failure about 10 missions in, as I knew nothing and it showed.

Try 2: got further, had things rolling until a terror mission not only slagged my entire 6 man vet squad decked out in carapace armor and lasers, but the loss also sent 6 nations in panic who all then left at the end of the month....

3rd try: Got things rolling well had an awesome squad of 4 people that I added rookies to to use for bait and to groom for future use (whichever managed to happen) everything was going great until I misjudged a missile shot.....*BOOM* blew up 4 of my 6 suad members along with 2 mutons.... from there is just spiraled to a gruesome death. So here I sit after playing for hours on end debating the intelligence of starting completely over again.


OI

Tell us how try 4 goes

[Shepp]

Originally Posted by RendeR

I picked this up on a steam sale last week. I've attempted 3 play throughs so far.

Try 1: utter failure about 10 missions in, as I knew nothing and it showed.

Try 2: got further, had things rolling until a terror mission not only slagged my entire 6 man vet squad decked out in carapace armor and lasers, but the loss also sent 6 nations in panic who all then left at the end of the month....

3rd try: Got things rolling well had an awesome squad of 4 people that I added rookies to to use for bait and to groom for future use (whichever managed to happen) everything was going great until I misjudged a missile shot.....*BOOM* blew up 4 of my 6 suad members along with 2 mutons.... from there is just spiraled to a gruesome death. So here I sit after playing for hours on end debating the intelligence of starting completely over again.


OI

I just finished it for the first time on Sunday. This particular save was the 11th time I had to restart. Finally having seen the ending, I would say that this game is more about the journey than the destination. If you enjoy the tactical combat then that should be why you restart the game. If you just want to see how it ends you'd probably be happier by just watching a video of it on Youtube.

[RendeR]

Funny thing is, I get so wrapped up in the playing of the game that I forget to save. So i might as well be playing ironman every time. *sigh*

[mckerney]

I had a game like your third where i lost all but one of my experienced soldiers and was left with my level 10 assault and a bunch of squadies. Nearly quit but decided to give it a go and Sergeant Facecheck managed to carry all my rookies through.

It's really a good thing my assault made it because she was an absolute powerhouse and the only psi operative I was able to find.

Those first few missions with low level snipers sucked though.

[EagleFan]

I had to upgrade my laptop and have since tried this game (since the last one couldn't really play it well) and damn, it is rather fun. Going slow with it but have been enjoying it. I can see myself getting pissed several levels in when I ultimately lose one of my vets.

[RendeR]

I finally finished the game on the 6th pseudo-ironman style play.

Color me underwhelmed at the ending. I expected much more.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by RendeR

I finally finished the game on the 6th pseudo-ironman style play.

Color me underwhelmed at the ending. I expected much more.

The ending really detracts from the fun of getting there, really does not do justice to a great game.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

The ending really detracts from the fun of getting there, really does not do justice to a great game.

Agreed, but it is a great game up unto the end and one that I still look forward to replaying when some DLC comes out for it... rare that I feel that way about a game.

[RendeR]

Oh I'm sure I'm going to run through it at elast 1 more time on a higher difficulty, but I was just really weirded out that the ending was so lame.

[Edward64]

I'm bypassing the bureau, good to see this coming out.

XCOM 2 Rumors: ‘Enemy Within’ Spotted On Steam But Is It Sequel Or DLC? - International Digital Times

Every now and then, I come across a story that really, truly excites me in that giddy seven-year-old kid at Toys R Us kind of way. And the latest XCOM 2 rumors are that story for me right now. CVG broke the news that a potential sequel to XCOM: Enemy Unknown has been spotted deep in the Steam files. The content on Steam is listed as "XCOM EW." There are listings for XCOM EW in English, German, Spanish, etc., a strong sign that a major project is underway. What makes this XCOM 2 rumor especially compelling is that CVG also uncovered a game titled XCOM: Enemy Within on the South Korean Classification Board websites for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. The translation isn't very revealing, simply says that the game is being Rated-M.

[jeff061]

I have high hopes the Bureau will be a good game, but I have my doubts.

[Shepp]

I'm definately going to wait and see on both of these. I preordered Enemy Unknown and really liked the style and mechanics of that game. I didn't like the number of bugs and how Firaxis didn't really bother to fix them. Teleporting is only mostly fixed, flanking has got serious issues, and multiplayer is beyond broken. I'm not going to give them any more of my money unless the above mentioned issues are resolved along with whatever content they have planned.

As far as The Bureau, it looks like it has potential but I'm not getting my hopes up.

[Kodos]

Any news on the iPad version?

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Any news on the iPad version?

I hear it's quite good.

[Shepp]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Any news on the iPad version?

I think its identicle to the PC/ console release except that it doesn't have as many maps to stay within apple's size limit.

[Neon_Chaos]

The ipad version is the same game.

Slightly fewer maps. Less fancy effects/explosions. No customizable dlc.

They just recently added the second wave options in the latest patch.

[Edward64]

Its a new DLC!

'XCOM: Enemy Within' Is 'Enemy Unknown' DLC, Not a Sequel?

After Firaxis Games seemed happy to take their success with XCOM: Enemy Unknown as a chance to relax, rumors began circulating earlier this months about a mysterious property known as ‘Enemy Within,’ apparently tied to the franchise. The developers broke their silence in confirming that they would be making an announcement regarding Enemy Within at Gamescom later this month, but that may no longer be necessary.

It seems that 30 new Steam Achievements have been added for Enemy Unknown, implying that whatever Firaxis is up to will not be a brand new sequel to the XCOM reboot, but an expansion. These details are far from official, but given the track record of Steam Achievements outing major releases, we’d expect comment from the developers soon.

[jeff061]

Bout time, I'm in.

[Julio Riddols]

I finally picked up Enemy Unknown this past week, and I am trying to figure out what bugs you guys are talking about. I'm on the XBox 360 version.

I'm addicted to this game right now, I've probably put in about 25 hours on it. I also keep reading that the sequel is a better version too. Any thoughts?

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by Julio Riddols

I finally picked up Enemy Unknown this past week, and I am trying to figure out what bugs you guys are talking about. I'm on the XBox 360 version.

I'm addicted to this game right now, I've probably put in about 25 hours on it. I also keep reading that the sequel is a better version too. Any thoughts?

If you mean the DLC, yes, it improves the original in many different ways that adds more fun, strategy and choice.

[Julio Riddols]

Oh that is DLC? I saw it being sold on a seperate disc and assumed it was a new version.

[NobodyHere]

Do you mean Enemy Within? That's an expansion.

Edit: Also I recommend getting it.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Julio Riddols

Oh that is DLC? I saw it being sold on a seperate disc and assumed it was a new version.

It's an expansion, but they sold it as a separate release on consoles just because it had so much additional data that a download DLC on consoles would have eaten up a lot of HDD space.