XCOM: Enemy Unknown - FIRAXIS, TURN-BASED

I'm playing classic. Watching someone play normal, it is SO much easier holy shiiiiiit.

I didn't do too hot at first (lost two countries) because I'm used to the old ways, and it's a little different here. Like, you can't sell your guns and items, so I was short on cash flow for a while. But I've got 2 new planes now, I'm about to jump from 5 satellites to 10, and I skipped right over lasers to plasma. It's just about over. As soon as the jetpacks hit it's fuck-up-alien-city.

I totally missed the fact that skeleton suits boost movement distance, just like the kits in the old game. That would have been helpful.

Having at least 3 assaults on your squad is helpful too. Run and gun is too helpful for finishing missions quickly. I've been rolling with two snipes, one a pistol-specced sniper but it's kind of a waste. One fully upgraded sniper is enough. The chain-kill ability in conjunction with a bunch of assaults with flush is fucking NASTY.

I'm going to have to play through the old game again now. There are so many things I miss, like being able to set a fuse timer on grenades.

It's strange to me that they allowed grenades to instantly explode. According to the developers, grenades originally waited a turn before exploding but focus testing showed that most people disliked the mechanic.

Regardless, It still feels like a mistake to have them explode instantly. They're not all that different from other explosives now. With a timer, they become a way to flush targets out of cover as well as a way to deal damage when used in conjunction with Supression and Overwatch. TACTICS!

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Originally Posted by Cowutopia

I'm playing classic. Watching someone play normal, it is SO much easier holy shiiiiiit.

I didn't do too hot at first (lost two countries) because I'm used to the old ways, and it's a little different here. Like, you can't sell your guns and items, so I was short on cash flow for a while. But I've got 2 new planes now, I'm about to jump from 5 satellites to 10, and I skipped right over lasers to plasma. It's just about over. As soon as the jetpacks hit it's fuck-up-alien-city.

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How did you afford all that shit?

I'm playing Classic and I'm nearing the end of the 3rd month. I'm scrounging for power and money. I have 2 satellites, waiting for the engineers to build a 3rd. I have light plasma and that's about it.

Panic is a big problem, too. But I understand that taking out the alien base reduces panic worldwide?

Take down the alien base. It basically lowers panic to almost nothing across the board, and there's no more alerts for almost a month after.

Yeah, this. I'm taking a couple days off. I put way too many hours in a short time and don't want to burn out.

I've still been playing a ton of this. Wound up getting around the Alien Activity glitch and finishing the base a few days ago.

poor dishonored and jewel of the nile

OK, beat the alien base last night and that solved a ton of my problems. And those problems have been quickly been replaced with new ones. I cannot get these plasma rifles built soon enough. In future playthroughs I think I'll just capture a bunch of live aliens to avoid the time and expense of building personal plasma weapons.

I'm not embarrassed to admit that I replayed the base a few times, until I successfully captured the alien commander without losing half my squad. The chryssalids are horrible but they have predictable AI. They do the opposite of every other alien species I've seen. Other aliens take cover once you reach sight range, but they move toward you. If you know (or can reasonably predict) that you will be fighting chryssalids, you can exploit this by luring and trapping the chryssalid groups. Is chitin plating worth getting? Seems like it would help my assault guys lure chryssalids without dying horribly.

I didn't find it worthwhile. The biggest threat that chrysalids pose later on is to civilians, and you can't exactly give those guys armour. A sniper with "in the zone" combined with assaults who can flush (or heavies who carry two grenades for the purpose of destroying cover) makes getting to the chrysalids in time to put them down the greatest challenge.

I'm putting down the game until at least they patch aliens shooting you through walls that don't even get damaged, and the chain panics that completely remove control of the game from you. Playing ironman at a decent difficulty is just too frustrating when you make all the right moves, and the game cheats on you.