XCOM: Enemy Unknown - FIRAXIS, TURN-BASED

[bVork]

I'm a wuss. I'm not doing Ironman. I am doing Classic, though. Haven't reloaded yet. We'll see if it changes.

[AaronChance]

I'll go for the hardest diff it offers, but no ironman nonsense. Games where I can't save whenever are too irritating.

[epmode]

According to the developer, Impossible is ridiculously difficult and is almost like Dwarf Fortress; You will fail, the only question is how long it takes.

Easy:
1. Base global panic starts at 0
2. Most alien activity only raises panic by 1 in left unchecked
3. Your soldiers have 1 bonus hitpoint
4. Aliens are dumber, and there aren't as many of them
5. Soldiers cost $10

Normal:
1. Base global panic starts at 0
2. Most minor alien activity raises panic by 1 in left unchecked with some events doing up to 3
3. Your soldiers have no bonus hitpoints
4. Aliens have their AI mostly unshackled
5. Soldiers cost $10

Classic:
1. Base global panic starts at 8 (1 per location)
2. If unchecked alien activity causes at least 1 panic, but will often cause 2 or 3
3. Your soldiers have -1 hitpoint
4. All aliens receive bonuses hit hitpoints, accuracy, critical change and / or damage.
5. Alien AI is unshackled
6. You receive no officer training school
7. There are even more aliens per map
8. Soldiers cost $15

Impossible:
1. Base global panic starts at 16 (2 per location)
2. If unchecked alien activity causes at least 2 panic, but will often cause even more
3. Your soldiers have -2 hitpoints
4. All aliens receive bonuses hit hitpoints, accuracy, critical change and / or damage.
5. Alien AI is unshackled
6. You receive no officer training school
7. There are even more aliens per map
8. Soldiers cost $15

The notes about unshackled AI are talking about a few things:

On lower difficulty levels, the aliens will not specifically target the most vulnerable soldiers, alien patrols during missions are less frequent and aliens may even leave the combat area if you're already being engaged by too many enemies. On the strategic level, unshackled AI means that the aliens will go for the cities that are most at risk of dropping XCOM funding. The alien tech level has the potential of eclipsing your own on Classic and above.

Classic sounds like the way to go, and I'm thinking of going with Ironman since I often can't stop myself from abusing savegames.

[Tain]

This game is excellent so far. I'm trying Classic Ironman as my first attempt for shits. I'd like something between Ironman and the usual quicksave safety net, though. Getting rid of the option to freely save and load during combat would be nice. After this Ironman attempt goes south I might make a point to just not use saves during battles.

I'll go for the hardest diff it offers, but no ironman nonsense. Games where I can't save whenever are too irritating.

You can save whenever in ironman, you just have to quit when you do it.

[Joust Williams]

I know what the differences between the levels are (obviously, they're in that post), but has anyone figured out much that difference amounts to? I'm torn between Normal/No IM and Classic/No IM

[epmode]

The biggest difference is that there's a real possibility of falling behind the aliens in the Classic strategic mode. You can actually lose the entire game. I think you miss out on a lot without the metagame suspense.

[Joust Williams]

Yeah, that's why I think I am going to go with Classic.

[Hero]

I didn't do PC gaming back in the day so never got in on what made this series such a hit. Then I watch Enemy Unknown's quick look on giantbomb and...damn. Ok. Let's do this!

[bVork]

The highest compliment I can pay this game is that it evokes the same feelings that the original did.

Hidden movement: "Where are they? In front? Flanking me? Where!?"
Alien taking a shot: "Pleasedonthitpleasedonthitpleasedonthit"
Base building: "I only have space for this one facility, should I go for one that'll give me more in the long term or the one I really need right now? If I don't build the one I need right now, I may not have a future, but if I survive, I may end up being outclassed."
Engineering: "Why is everything so damn expensive!?"
Research: "Weapons or armour or stuff that might help me actually win this war..."
Promotions: "Why did XCOM promote that guy?!"

The only thing that feels underbaked are the UFO interceptions, which seem to only be there because the original had them. But this time you don't have to juggle attack distances, just click buffs.

[bVork]

Aaand I just hit an apparently common bug where the alien turn won't end. I guess that's my cue to go play Dishonored until this gets patched. Makes me wish this game had an autosave simply for issues like this. I was doing incredibly well in a "very difficult" abduction mission when it hit. Replaying one or two turns would have been fine, but starting the mission over from scratch? I'm too frustrated to try again right now.

Edit: And it turns out there is an autosave, but it's disabled by default. Thanks Firaxis. Sigh.