[Megathread] XCOM : Enemy Unknown

[Ravenblade]

I have never had much time playing the old XCOM games which is an embarassing confession but I was young and I was much more interested in programming than playing back then, oh well. Not the only game I actually missed out on. But so far I like the game and I would say one of the best games I have bought this year.

I can echo some issues here though. It does have many bugs and it seems to be a hallmark of any Firaxis game to defy proper Q&A methods. One of the most hilarious ones I've encountered yesterday: As I wanted to create a new 'door' with my rocket launcher exposing the nasty commanders holed up within a room. Used the rocket, blew that hole into the wall and apparently the ground as well. All commanders fell to their deaths and I completed my mission (talk about sending them properly to hell).

Which also exhibited one of the glaring bugs I have encountered a few times namely that rockets and grenades tend to send opponents through the grounds and sometimes make the camera stuck in limbo luckily spamming T until camera resets again solves this problem.

Another thing I am agreeing with are the voice-overs. Would have been nice if they actually had their nationality/region had an influence on their responses and talks. It's not exactly that Firaxis is short of resources for that.

Although I really do like the otherwise very atmospheric music they should have offered more but then again, Firaxis game, means soundtracks are either bought or on a very short leash (yes, I am looking at you Civ V: G&K with the Byzantium players getting standard Western-European music).

Overall a top game recommendable for anyone who is actually missing traditional squad tactic games.

[Deleted]

Here's something I've stumbled upon that's a fun reference, but also makes the game redonkulously easy. Use it (and learn about it) on your own accord.

If you name your characters particular names, they get significantly buffed stats and free gear. Here are the ones known so far:
Sid Meier - Support with psi training. References Sidney Meier, developer of countless strategy games and co-founder of MicroProse, developer of UFO: Enemy Unknown.
Ken Levine - Sniper. References Ken Levine, the game developer behind hits such as Thief, System Shock 2 and Bioshock.
Joe Kelly - Heavy. References (speculation on my part, considering the class) American Football player Joe Kelly.
Otto Zander - Assault. References Otto Zander, a character from a popular LP of X-COM: Apocalypse.
Note that using any of these soldiers will deactivate the ability to gain achievements throughout that gameplay session. You will be warned about this when attempting to name a character.

[Howard Moon]

Yup, there's a fairly average looking armour collection DLC on Steam atm. http://store.steampowered.com/app/209811/

Huh, those are the exact same armors/helmets/hairstyles that we got from pre-ordering, aren't they?

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/10/23/fi...dlc-announced/

Sounds great! Though honestly I would rather them focus on FREE bugfixes and qualty of life improvements rather than (paid?) DLC. :P


On another subject... do Muttons ever miss when they shoot? Damn fat bastards keep murdering me! ^^

[Dezerte]

Huh, those are the exact same armors/helmets/hairstyles that we got from pre-ordering, aren't they?

Yup. 10chars

[Thrage]

On another subject... do Muttons ever miss when they shoot? Damn fat bastards keep murdering me! ^^

Not just me, then, eh? My Classic Ironman games tend to go very smoothly right up until Mutons show up, then it crashes and burns in the blink of an eye.

[obdigore]

Not just me, then, eh? My Classic Ironman games tend to go very smoothly right up until Mutons show up, then it crashes and burns in the blink of an eye.

My problems are always the first advent of the chrissys. I never have both weapons and armor to deal with them like I do later in games when Mutons and Ethereals show up.

[Thrage]

My problems are always the first advent of the chrissys. I never have both weapons and armor to deal with them like I do later in games when Mutons and Ethereals show up.

That's probably more accurate. I usually beat the Terror mission, I just always lose all of my best soldiers doing it. Then the next thing I try to do, I get destroyed, and it snowballs. Pretty soon 5 nations are in panic-mode at once, and I figure it's time to restart. I've got laser weapons and carapace armor by the time the Mutons show up, but between panicky rookies and the fact that Mutons never, ever miss ... well, it's messy, and impossible to recover from.

I wonder if I should just ignore the terror mission.

[Ravenblade]

[...]
On another subject... do Muttons ever miss when they shoot? Damn fat bastards keep murdering me! ^^

Oh they do but yeah, fat fingers, bad eyes and shooting from the hip and they still manage to ruin a good raid.

[Deleted]

Terror missions and muton appearances always go fairly smooth for me. I just make sure to stay in tall cover if at all possible (will even dash for it if need be) and spread my squad out in such a way that at least one person can flank around the enemy.

Also, on the topic of chryssalids, I like dealing with them by first weakening them and then sending in an Assault with Close Combat Specialist to bait it. Chryssie comes close, and boom, buckshot applied directly to the forehead.

And speaking of buckshot, considering the effective range of shotguns, I think the devs were watching too many action movies. :P Shotguns loaded with proper ammunition have a pretty decent medium range, while the shotguns in the game act more like sawn-off double-barrels loaded with afore-mentioned buckshot.

[Shinzai]

Terror missions and muton appearances always go fairly smooth for me. I just make sure to stay in tall cover if at all possible (will even dash for it if need be) and spread my squad out in such a way that at least one person can flank around the enemy.

Also, on the topic of chryssalids, I like dealing with them by first weakening them and then sending in an Assault with Close Combat Specialist to bait it. Chryssie comes close, and boom, buckshot applied directly to the forehead.

And speaking of buckshot, considering the effective range of shotguns, I think the devs were watching too many action movies. :P Shotguns loaded with proper ammunition have a pretty decent medium range, while the shotguns in the game act more like sawn-off double-barrels loaded with afore-mentioned buckshot.

I found that the shotguns are only an issue until the guy using it is levelled up far enough. At about the point they get Sergeant, with a Scatter Laser, I generally get about 80-100% accuracy within 4-5 squares range, even behind full cover, 60~70% accuracy within the blue movement range and with a SCOPE, it can be 50~60% at the end of his yellow range of movement. At the start of a game though, Shotguns are inaccurate as all hell.

Got 'As A Scalpel' and 'Wetwork' achieves in a single Classic Ironman mission attempt where my squad was fully prepared for the first Chrysalid + Floaters attack, using 2 Assault and 2 Snipers with Squadsight. Laser shotties and sniper rifles just took them apart. Close Combat Specialist for the Assault and Squad Sight + Overwatch on Sniper are pretty much obscene with this kind of setup.

[Deleted]

If you've been using mods, you'll find that they no longer work, or only work partially. Firaxis, in an attempt to make modding the game more difficult, has now made the .exe retrieve the configuration file online if possible (a case of E.T. phone home, really), as opposed to your modded local file. While I see why they're doing it (multiplayer), it also means everyone enjoying a mod will be hindered by this.

You can solve it, though, by either preventing XComGame.exe from accessing the internet (can be done in most software firewalls), or by launching Steam in offline mode. No need to reapply your mods.

[WarpedAcorn]

I just beat the game last night and have already started a 2nd playthrough where I have been infinitely more successful (I lost a lot of good Soldiers as I learned mechanics and how to not play like I have ADD). One thing I never used were the SHIV units. Are those worth investing in? I didn't see the point in spending resources on them when I had fully equipped maxed out Soldiers.

[Fencers]

Shivs were good for a fill spot on the team. For example, sometimes I'd have a good assault injured for a few days. With no comparable ranked solider to fill his place. Send in the Shiv.

Was more useful to me than panic ridden rookies. And the Shivs were great scouting or defensive devices in UFO landings/crashes.

[Cyclone Jack]

If you've been using mods, you'll find that they no longer work, or only work partially. Firaxis, in an attempt to make modding the game more difficult, has now made the .exe retrieve the configuration file online if possible (a case of E.T. phone home, really), as opposed to your modded local file. While I see why they're doing it (multiplayer), it also means everyone enjoying a mod will be hindered by this.

You can solve it, though, by either preventing XComGame.exe from accessing the internet (can be done in most software firewalls), or by launching Steam in offline mode. No need to reapply your mods.

I wonder why they are doing this. The Civ games are so open to modding, then they decide to close this one off?

Personally, I'm hoping to one day see a mod or DLC that adds AP, ammo and inventory back into the game. Combat still seems a bit too shallow (could be all the years I have continued to play JA2), but I am enjoying the game.

[Revik]

I just beat the game last night and have already started a 2nd playthrough where I have been infinitely more successful (I lost a lot of good Soldiers as I learned mechanics and how to not play like I have ADD). One thing I never used were the SHIV units. Are those worth investing in? I didn't see the point in spending resources on them when I had fully equipped maxed out Soldiers.

SHIV are good when you need a decent unit but find that a number of your guys are out injured or killed. The second really good thing about SHIVs are that they completely immune to psionic attack or mind control. When you suspect that you are coming up to a Psionic unit you can feel safe sending in your SHIV to spot them.

IMO they have a place in your group later on but I'd only recommend using one.

[Deleted]

I wonder why they are doing this. The Civ games are so open to modding, then they decide to close this one off?

I can see two possible reasons.

1) Multiplayer. Playing multiplayer with a modded game against people with unmodded files can be anything from unbalanced to buggy or downright game-crashing.
2) Things that modders have been able to do, particularly things like unlocking Second Wave, was intended to be unlocked as part of a DLC further down the line. Firaxis is big on the whole DLC idea, and I wouldn't put it past them to go "so we've got this feature done that could extend the replay value of the game significantly, let's not release it until sales start dropping".

I kind of support the first theory, as I can understand that they don't want to let players mess with multiplayer. I think the people who play XCOM for the multiplayer portion is in a severe minority, but that's just my personal guess. If it's theory #2, it's seriously dickish of Firaxis to withhold content that is obviously developed and present in the game files. If modders with no access to source code can enable and properly fix ALL components of Second Wave to a playable state within a week of release, there's no reason why a developer team with direct access to the source code shouldn't be able to do it in a day or two.

[obdigore]

I can see two possible reasons.

1) Multiplayer. Playing multiplayer with a modded game against people with unmodded files can be anything from unbalanced to buggy or downright game-crashing.
2) Things that modders have been able to do, particularly things like unlocking Second Wave, was intended to be unlocked as part of a DLC further down the line. Firaxis is big on the whole DLC idea, and I wouldn't put it past them to go "so we've got this feature done that could extend the replay value of the game significantly, let's not release it until sales start dropping".

I kind of support the first theory, as I can understand that they don't want to let players mess with multiplayer. I think the people who play XCOM for the multiplayer portion is in a severe minority, but that's just my personal guess. If it's theory #2, it's seriously dickish of Firaxis to withhold content that is obviously developed and present in the game files. If modders with no access to source code can enable and properly fix ALL components of Second Wave to a playable state within a week of release, there's no reason why a developer team with direct access to the source code shouldn't be able to do it in a day or two.

I tried the multiplayer. It is all snipers on overwatch and cloaked.

[Halicia]

I enjoy the remake to this classic, but it suffers (IMO) from the same design flaws of the original. Though perhaps not to the same extent.

#1. Missions are mandatory, but no option for automation. This especially sucks since you can't intercept most of the UFOs in the remake.
#2. Research is gamechanging. Instead of having small steps and improvements, it feels like you're going from using spears to using nukes. It would be nice if there were more intermediate research goals.
#3. Don't like the satellite system. It aggravates the annoyance of the country system itself in that I'm often forced to choose to ignore two continents and help one.

While the tactical game is pretty solid and balanced, I tend to prefer the overworld side of these games, and find it ironic that the makers of Civ delivered so poorly on that front.

[Cyclone Jack]

I can see two possible reasons.

1) Multiplayer. Playing multiplayer with a modded game against people with unmodded files can be anything from unbalanced to buggy or downright game-crashing.
2) Things that modders have been able to do, particularly things like unlocking Second Wave, was intended to be unlocked as part of a DLC further down the line. Firaxis is big on the whole DLC idea, and I wouldn't put it past them to go "so we've got this feature done that could extend the replay value of the game significantly, let's not release it until sales start dropping".

1) Civ V is a multiplayer, turn-based strategy and is wide open for mods.
2) This could be, but if that's the case why even put it in the game, knowing that people are going to find it?

Also, I would say that modding extends the life of a game far beyond what any DLC can. If a developer wants to really extend the life/replay value of a game, then you support modding, followed by adding in completely new functionalites to the game via DLC. This gives modders new toys to play with and players need the DLC to play the new mods (see: Civ V Gods & Kings, any Bethesda game).

More on topic, I started up my second game (still on Classic, now that I have gotten the hang of things) and have a feeling I'm about to get into a world of hurt. I am 6/6 on missions w/o losing a soldier, and barely even taking damage.

[Deleted]

1) Civ V is a multiplayer, turn-based strategy and is wide open for mods.
2) This could be, but if that's the case why even put it in the game, knowing that people are going to find it?

1) The difference is that Civ V officially supports modding. XCOM doesn't, yet, and maybe it never will. Also, modding in Civ V does not require you to forcibly make changes in the executable file, whereas in XCOM it does.
2) Most likely they didn't expect players to find and actually manage to make it accessible. It's not really a rare occurrence for developers to underestimate the knowledge of their playerbase.