Mouse and keyboard was choppy and weird pre-patch, but the patch made the mouse movement crisp, and I think I'm used to the keyboard controls. I'm sure it's fine either way.
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Mouse and keyboard was choppy and weird pre-patch, but the patch made the mouse movement crisp, and I think I'm used to the keyboard controls. I'm sure it's fine either way.
The mouse controls were improved a bunch in the latest patch but I'd still go with a controller. Even so, I'd still get the PC version for 60 FPS, more frequent patching and mods.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mzo
FYI, Ironman is tense as hell.
Probably gonna get it on both
I will get in on this as soon as there's a sale in the $30 range.
Edit: looks like right now Greenman is offering either $5 off the PC version or $10 in Greenman credit.
Alien Activity hang on my first base invade, fml. Looks like I'll have to come back whenever its patched. Game was getting better and better up to this point.
And that's why I don't play Ironman.
No regrets, it's been tense and awesome and I'm like 80% sure a patch will let me resume.
After my first turn, the enemy critically killed me, panicking 2 of the 3 remaining guys in my squad. One of those hit the non panicked guy. And then he was killed two turns later when his car cover exploded.
This game rules ;p
I'm pretty sure panic actions depend on the experience of the unfortunate victim. Panicking rookies are likely to shoot fellow squadmates, while I've actually won missions because panicking captains have run to the correct side of cover and then taken a shot at the enemy.
Panic is a motherfucker. I really dislike how it spreads by proximity to panicking soldiers, but I'm rolling with a mostly experienced crew now that never panics. Another thing I hate is how much life zombies have. It's silly I can take down most aliens in one shot, but I need concentrated fire from half the team to take down a single zombie.
Other than that XCOM is game of the year.
Yeah it is exceptionally good. The simplified actions and inventories do take a little bit of the OCD pleasure of complete control away, but honestly that and the locked-in classes don't ruin anything. The game is as fun and as tense as ever. Even the simplified interceptions dont really take anything away. All of the stuff tha made the old game great is there an it is glorious. I am hooked again. I agree on skipping the tutorial, way too long.
This game is truly fucking excellent. I will be playing this once a year over the original. It's that good.
This game makes me kick out some OCD Jams. Also, my wife wanted to use my computer and I had stepped away from it. Instead of alt-tabbing like a normal human being, she quit to desktop with only 2 x-ray's left on the map. MAD.
I forgot my real point: with all the systems being a little more streamlined it feels much more like a pure tabletop game than a video game. All the nitty gritty stuff like time units and inv management etc etc in the original made it seem less like a tabletop game because all that shit on a tabletop would be way too cumbersome, but it would be very easy to translate this directly onto a tabletop.
The only thing I really miss is incremental passage of time. It either goes by 1 min or 30min/hr it seems. Not sure which I wasn't paying attention. I really really liked having control over that. But you don't really lose much not having it. The geoscape just becomes a little less like a sweet bonged out screen saver.
omg she is such a mom nowQuote:
Originally Posted by Chux
I passed out on the couch, came back and was like "wait what?". Her response was that last night when she asked I said yeah, just quit to the desktop. I had just saved and was on the command center screen.
I can't wait until the day Lily bitches at her dad for doing that to her.
I would never.
Playing on Classic. Feel like I'm over the hump right now. Got plenty of money and materials, while my team is just wasting the aliens. Did a terror mission against a dozen or so zombie-makers, and not only did I not lose a single solider. None of them took any damage at all. I just waited outside and snap-shotted the shit out of anything that crawled out. There are tougher enemies on the horizon I hear, but I just loaded up my squad with plasma weapons.
I have plasma rifles, and light plasma rifles, Plasma Snipes are like 2 days away. My global panic level is down to one bar for everybody, except one nation has 2 and Nigeria dropped out.
It was mega hectic up until the one event that I just passed and dropped the panic level though.
I lost Egypt. I don't think it's possible not to lose a country on Classic. Sats take too long to build.
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!
How did you afford all that shit?Quote:
Originally Posted by Cowutopia
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.
Yeah, that's why I'm waiting a while before I go into a very hard ironman game. If this game becomes anything like the original to me I'll still be playing it in 19 years. There's plenty of time for hardcore runs.
Pussies.
Pretty sure I shoot through walls all the time in this game. Can the aliens do something different?
Ironman (Normal in my case, but maybe Classic for some others) seems like the ideal place to start, for me. I get the tension that I want and I've had nothing spoiled.
I shoot through mad walls.
I also get hit through walls, alls fair in FUCKING ALIENS DUDEBRO
Fuck! Cunts! Farts!
I prefer cursing on the internet, too. There's less of a chance that my dad will hear it and wallop me with a bottle.
I saw one or two isolated complaints about this. But I didn't believe it at first. Part of the problem stems from the fact that: 1) the game hides the calculations from you (re: line of sight, elevation, cover, chance to hit), and 2) the graphics, particularly the chase camera/reaction shots, are not 100% representational of the math. So often your guy looks like he's shooting through a brick wall at an alien, but if you look at the board at a higher elevation it's clear that your guy actually has line of sight on the target. You can always tell if you have line of sight because a little alien icon appears whenever you do.Quote:
Originally Posted by AaronChance
However, while playing the alien base I was approaching a large, oddly shaped archway. There's full cover on either side, on the left and right. Part of the archway is destructible. Yet when one of my troops was leaned against a part of the arch that was not contiguous to the opening, I somehow had line of sight on a non-visible alien. And he had line of sight on me. So we're firing right through this thing at each other with our plasma guns. Weird.
At first I thought this was just a case of the game's line of sight calculations giving a misleading battlefield picture. But now I'm wondering if it is, in fact, a bug.
I also experienced a couple "squad wide" panic attacks while fighting the sectoid commander. Not sure if that's a bug or an actual power the sectoid commander has.
I also noticed a couple peculiar bugs. Once, while moving one of my squad members during a bomb disposal mission, a little red alien head appeared on my HUD, but there was not in fact a visible alien. That red alien head persisted every time that particular squad member (and only that squad member) took a turn. Not gamebreaking, but distracting. I also noticed, during one of my multiple reloads last night, a phantom panic alert appearing above the head of one of my squaddies that persisted throughout the mission. He was fully controllable but he still had the panic icon above his head the remainder of the mission. Plus he made that girly little squeal every time, and it was very distracting.
TL;DR summary: i can haz bug patch?
My least favourite bug is the double intimidate freeze. If you get two Mutons to use their intimidate ability at the same time (by hitting them both with an explosive, for instance), then the animation sometimes won't stop and you can't do anything but alt-tab out and close the game.
sry that you live at home bro. :(Quote:
Originally Posted by A Robot Bit Me
Man I did the build tree allll wronnnnggggg. I'm at the end game and it's going to be like 3 months of just training up a squad of rookies against impossible enemies. I might have to pass on some missions...it's going to be long. Or I let the game win and start over! fuck thaaaat!
Rotate your squad members so that you don't have one team of badasses and a horde of useless rookies. On easier missions, I tend to take along one or two rookies to train up to usefulness.
Yeah I mean it's absolutely necessary. After you upgrade the officer training school your new soldiers are better than all of your old ones. It's nice to see you still have random stats on them. I shot through the main mission too fast though. I captured an ethereal on my first try and built the hyperwave beacon and all that shit and now every fight is mutant elite (impossible defense bonus for rookies to hit without explosives) and ethereals (hello team panic) and sectopods (even if I have the rookies in crazy armor it's tough.) I should have had like 3 squads by now, but I was rushing it. I'm in August of year 1. The only thing my rookies can really do is run 'n gun and get in close with an alloy cannon, or pick off the weaker enemies if I'm lucky enough to get some.
I just could have made it a lot easier on myself if I had built more satellites early.
I just hope I have enough time to do it or I'll actually lose the game lol. Things are getting expensive. I just shot down a battleship though so I should make a ton of money off this....it's going to be a hell of a mission though.
Yeah, my first go through I was doing story priority first and realized how bad of an idea that was.
Yeah gwt two satellites a month at least (have to build them up front because of long lead time) and capture as many aliens as you can before sectopods:you'll get a lot of free weapons. They explode when you kill them every time.
Turns out I can't beat it on Normal Ironman, buh. That was a lot of fun, though! I'll have to come back to this game later and try again.
You would have to play REALLY slow to win on ironman. I just fought three sectopods at once and didn't have anyone with heat ammo! I kicked ass though. Defensive support shits are great. Turned the corner in my game, finally caught up to the story on the tech curve. I dropped in like 7 satellites in 1 month made a hojillion dollars and right now it's a bit breezy. When the global panic is getting away from me that's when I'll do the next story mission.
How much more is there after the big ship?
That's it. That's the last level
No Cydonia mission this time around?
I'm hoping for DLC.Quote:
Originally Posted by Timber
Yeah it just kind of ends abruptly currently
Oh, so I crushed the game in under a year of game time. That's kind of disappointing. I only had the opportunity to shoot down like 8 ufo's.
The combat portion of this game feels a lot like front mission.
I'm hoping for Dlc too. Wtf is that about? You HAVE to have the one-last-chance one-time-only mission to outer space. That is crucial!
Seems like a no brainer for Dlc now that I think about it.
I haven't beat the game yet. But it seems perfectly suited for DLC.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cowutopia
And we know the X-Com series is no stranger to the DLC concept. Terror from the Deep is basically a reskinned, harder version of the original.
Here's a question for you commanders out there: should I go for Titan armor, or tech straight to Ghost?
There are Steam achievements in place that cannot be obtained so DLC is a certainty.
As it turns out, my biggest problem with XCOM is the lack of a procedural map generator. I didn't like the idea of pre-baked maps going in and it turned out to be worse in practice than I expected.
First off, there really aren't that many maps. I still haven't played through an entire campaign (although I've restarted twice) and I'm already seeing dupes. Prior to release, Firaxis talked about how starting points and enemy spawns are randomized so it will still feel very different. What they didn't mention is how the game's focus changed from a creepy, wide-open bug hunt in the first game to a more linear war zone in XCOM. The levels are still big and varied enough to account for multiple combat approaches but there's no longer any question about where exactly the aliens are hiding. Many of the levels are even on bridges or some other directed pathway. In practice, this means that there are only two potential start locations for the Skyranger and enemies are roughly in the same areas each time (although the species will change.)
The lack of proper level generation also affects the game your first time through:
There simply isn't enough map variety to account for the different variables that made the original game so rad. The alien ship's condition on the ground would change based on the weapons used to shoot it down and whether or not the aliens had time to attempt repairs. You could also try waiting for the aliens to land first so that the ship components would be in better shape (downside: more aliens on-board). Then there was the way the map would change based on geographical location. Not to mention the ridiculously important day and night cycle. Absoluely none of this is present in XCOM and I really miss it.
Procedual map generation is a big deal in a replayable strategy game, especially one that is so focused on the unknown, and I can't understand why it wasn't a top priority. They had four years to get it right! I can only think of two plausible reasons: Procedual map generation may be difficult or impossible in Unreal Engine 3 or they REALLY wanted to sell some DLC.
Really? There's a lot more randomness in XCOM than I expected there to be, honestly.Quote:
Originally Posted by epmode
It loses a lot of the complexity and randomness of the original. But I don't belong to the camp that thinks they should have made an exact replica of X-Com.
The original game still exists, and is fully playable on Steam. No need to regurgitate the entire thing.
Neither do I. I actually love the game! The new combat style is excellent, both the switch away from TUs and the more focused map flow. I like the new character classes, the way individual nations provide you with unique bonuses and a whole lot of other stuff. But I don't think you can make a case that the limited maps are a good thing for the longetivity of XCOM. Procedural map generation would absolutely work with the current XCOM design and it would only enhance the game.Quote:
Originally Posted by sleeve
Yeah it's a solid game but the meta-base management is just nowhere near as much fun. All that good night day stuff and incremental passage of time and juggling interceptors and weapons or stalking a UFO and waiting for it to land, all of that is gone and it is for the worse really.
I've played the same terror map three times in my first run through. I'm disappointed by that as well. The maps they include are fun and have replay value but it's just not going to hook you like randomly generated ones would.
Where the FUCK is the c4? What good are my jet packs if I can't blow holes in the roofs of ufo's with timed c4 and pour in through the roof?
I have a laundry list of complaints honestly, but in reality you just can't compare the two games. They both shine in different ways, and kudos to them for making a new game.
I really don't like the stupid defense bonus muton elites get from cover. You can be standing right in front of one with a very low to hit.
Yes, clearly all those things are missing from XCOM. I disagree that the game is the worse for it, though.
It's an issue of sacrificing some depth and complexity in certain areas in exchange for adding complexity in others. The individual maps are a lot more well-designed and tense. Fundamentally, the essence of the game is the same. It's a strategy game based on scarce resource management, choice, and short-versus-long-term investment.
I agree that the game would be better with more randomized maps, and more UFO encounters. I have interceptors with plasma cannons on 4 out of 5 continents and I got nothing to shoot!
I haven't seen endgame weapons yet but I'm pretty sure you can't destroy floor/ceiling tiles. I am still a little depressed about it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cowutopia
OK, now that is kinda depressing. Really makes archangel armor and explosives even less useful.Quote:
Originally Posted by epmode
I heard that the focus of this game is actually in multiplayer and the campaign is really a 30 hour tutorial.
That would make a lot of sense. It's not what I want but it makes a lot of sense.
Nah. The multiplayer is really bare bones, unless that was a lame attempt at humor.
I haven't tried it yet.
One thing that odd. The language for in the zone says it only counts for kills with the sniper rifle which limits you to four shots, but kills with a pistol have been triggering that as well, which gives you the ability to kill virtually unlimited enemies if you have plasma/powered up pistols on a sniper. Pistols never run out of ammo.
Sounds good in theory. But "In The Zone" only works on flanked enemies, right? So you'd have to flank like a half a dozen guys at once for it to really pay off.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cowutopia
It also works on enemies out of cover. Combining a sniper with in the zone with assaults with flush or members with rockets/ grenades can really help you
mow through a large group quickly.
OK upon further study it only let me use it with the pistol 1 time. Gay but whatever. New text popped up saying "In the zone can only be used with pistols 1 time!"
Soooooo, I deleted my endgame save last night.
It was totally by accident. I was all set to take on the giant alien ship, Classic difficulty, non-Ironman, 5 ghost suits, 4 psionics users...all gone. I blame the cumbersome way in which the PC version organizes save games. I thought I was deleting a bunch of old game saves, but deleted my most recent save by accident.
Suprisingly, I'm okay with it. I have a save from about 5 hours earlier, about three months earlier in game time. Instead of using it, I just started over, this time on Classic Ironman. Now that I have a pretty good understanding of the tactics, I'm having a lot of fun with it. On Classic, it's best to stay out of line of sight entirely whenever you can.
Especially with the goddamn Thin Men and all the aim bonuses they get. I lost my sniper on a VIP extraction mission because I decided to take a chance and dash her to full cover, hoping that the thin man would miss. At the beginning of the game, if you have a choice between leaving a guy in full cover or moving him out of sight, you should move him out of sight every single time. Serves me right.
Same thing almost happened to me, but I have auto-saves on and that saved my ass. Though I'm stuck in the drudgery to get a guy leveled to the point he can use the Gallop chamber. They throw so many bad guys at you in the late missions it's just not fun anymore.
Bum rush them to victory. I'm very aggressive, unlike Sleeve.
Storytime!
Last night I was in month 3 on my Classic Ironman playthrough. I completely and hilariously botched a VIP extraction mission. It's the one where you have to pull a general out of a bombed-out highway. Well, I led the VIP out of the crater, into cover. About a dash and a half away from the evac zone.
I killed all but one thin man standing in the way. I move my heavy into cover behind a car, next to the thin man, and take a shot. Support's turn has already ended, also in cover, behind the same car. Thin man overwatch activates, misses, but hits the car, lighting it on fire. I shoot at the thin man, and miss. I know I'm fucked: the car will explode at the beginning of my next turn. Both guys have about 10 HP, so I figure they might survive the blast.
Wrong.
My turn hits. The car explodes, killing both vets. The rookie standing next to the VIP panics, shoots and kills the VIP. *facepalm*
Post mission, I've got five countries in the red zone. Only two vets left, and a boatload of rookies. At this point, I'm contemplating a restart.
But just for the fuck of it, I sent the two vets with four rookies to take the alien base. Three laser rifles and four carapace armor sets between them. An hour later, twenty-two dead alien corpses, and one dead mind-controlled sniper later, I pull it off. Even stunned the Sectoid Commander.
ENSURE RETURN OF ORGANISM FOR ANALYSIS. CREW EXPENDABLE.
I fucking love this game.
NASTY
I remember the first time I played that mission. I correctly had my guys spread all over the map when the drop-ins happened. None of them got to shoot.
I started the game with a gamepad on PC, but the mouse pointer is still showing. Anyone else have this issue?
Okay I am playing at classic and have already done a reload - there is a lot more going on in this game than I thought. I need to be more careful.
This looks like the best thing Firaxis has done since vanilla Civ 4.
It's a bug introduced after the first patch. Minor mouse glitch aside, the game is still pretty buggy.Quote:
Originally Posted by Diff-chan
I'm disappointed that they haven't patched quicker on PC. It looks like they're trying to release the next patch across all platforms simultaeously so we're stuck waiting for Microsoft/Sony certification.
All Firaxis games are buggy for the first few months. This is going back to Civ II.
About to start the alien base again on my second Classic Ironman playthrough. I abandoned my first after losing two entire squads. I probably could have continued playing - my economy was pretty solid - but it was late and I was pissed.
So far I'm at the end of month 3, research is on track. I'm fully lasered up with carapace armor, Satellite Nexus will finish building at the end of the month, plasma research on the way.
Research credits are an *enormous* help. To the point where I don't see the need to buy a laboratory at all.
Of all the classes, it sucks to lose snipers the most. This is because snipers are pretty much useless until they have Squadsight. I think the loss of my vet sniper in my last playthrough is what hurt me the most. That, and the fact that I ran missions with Squadsight-less snipers.
I've also found that the base management is a lot more complex and interesting than I first thought. It's like playing a real-time strategy game: money in the bank is useless, spend whatever money you have, don't build any more items/facilities than you need, anticipate when you need uplinks/power so you don't get bottlenecked. Very clever stuff.
I am really interested in XCOM after reading all the comments in this thread. Any word on how the console versions stack up against the PC?
From what I've read, all are fine. The game plays great with a gamepad and this isn't Firaxis' first time around the console block.
I had a blast on xbox.
It was awesome.
Do it Dole!
I...Imma do it!
This game is on sale EVERYWHERE today, you can find it for about 35 bucks. That makes me sad. This game must not be performing too well.
Don't quote me on that though, I haven't looked at numbers.
The NPD numbers are low, only ~150K in the first month. However, NPD is particularly worthless for a PC-friendly strategy game like this since NPD ignores digital sales.. The publisher has already gone on record that the game is selling very well.
$25 @ Wal-Mart, if you want to corrupt your soul by venturing in there.
$25 download from Amazon, key works on Steam as usual. Couldn't say no at this point.
I hear this game is good, TNL.
It's okay. It's not really random enough though.
I agree about the random comment. It's still excellent.
I really liked it for 30+ hours, but I'm disappointed that at least in it's current state I'll never go back to it.
I've played it for over 100 hours now, an it's still holding my interest. Definitely enough randomness in there to keep things intense.
100 hours? Does this game have an ending or does it just go on and on?
It has an ending. The progression is actually fixed in some very specific ways. Another flaw I feel.
I've been playing Fallen Enchantress lately. Very different game, but makes me appreciate just how random things can be, and how vast your options can be.
I spent 40 hours or so on Classic, made it to the endgame, then accidentally deleted my most recent save. Rather than start from my next most recent save, about 8 hours prior, I decided to restart the game on Classic Ironman.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dolemite
Replay #1 lasted about 20 hours. I botched 2 missions (lost my entire squad). So I decided to start over again.
Replay #2 has been going for about 30 hours and I'm close to the endgame, Classic Ironman style. That's XCOM baby.
I had this Japanese chick I was using every mission. She was the one that used the taser to capture live aliens and everything...
She got flanked by reinforcements dropping down from the sky. It was bullshit.
Sometimes aliens come from the sky.
Yeah, be careful on council missions. Reinforcements drop whenever you complete the objective (locate the VIP, disarm the bomb). Gotta prepare accordingly.
Sometimes you dine on a tree frog.Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony
First DLC hits this Tuesday. Only works on new games though so if you're halfway through an Ironman run you won't get it until you start a new game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9onqZD1R10
Typically awful DLC from Firaxis. I'm hoping for an expansion or sequel for really interesting stuff.
I'm getting destroyed in my first playthrough. Got wiped in 2 consecutive missions.
omg dlc?!
I heard it's pretty junky. I'll wait for a sale.
I got destroyed on my first playthrough. After a while I had to send in rookies and they just had no chance against the tougher enemies.
I don't know if there is some easy trick to beating the AI (like old Madden games), but I hope there's not. This game is pretty rad.