Xcom 2

I’m seeing some pretty big quality of life mods that would be not only fine, but well worth while even on a Vanilla run.

“Gotcha”
“Perfect numbers”
ect.

At the very least, Overwatch All and Evac All.

Gotcha is a huge addition. I would also recommend the one that fixes the hit roll jank – I’ve forgotten the name. I don’t use overwatch all ever and evac all is really just a minor convenience to me – evacuating soldiers one by one doesn’t really bother me.

I will check in on my list of mods later to get the name for the hit roll mod and see if there are any others I would absolutely recommend to those who just want QoL changes.

What is the “hit roll jank”?

-Tom

I apologize. I posted that really quickly earlier. The “hit roll jank” refers to the way XCom 2 rolls for hit and crit together in the same roll, so if the crit chance is higher than hit chance, a hit always crits (I do see a potential nursery rhyme in this last clause). The EU Aim Rolls mod “fixes” that so that crit chance is rolled after a hit. So, if I shoot at something and have 50% to hit and 50% to crit in the original system, I would never have a normal hit, just 50% crits and 50% misses. With this mod, that would change to 25% normal hits, 25% crits and 50% misses. With the mod, dodging can either reduce the damage of just normal hits, or of both normal hits and crits, depending on your preference.

The other key mods I use that don’t impinge on the rules are:
Gotcha (as mentioned before)
Perfect Information (shows the hit crit and dodge %s for all shots including enemies’)
Blackmarket Usage

Once you’ve played through once, I recommend an AI mod (like Improved AI) or Better Advent. I also really like It’s Just a Scratch which narrows the range of possible wounded times and makes them more granular – thus avoiding the occasional 24 days for 2 hits of damage situations.

I haven’t played through with the new Long War Studios mods yet, but will definitely try them out.

No, no apology necessary. I’ve heard various complaints about XCOM 2, but I’d never heard that term.

I use those other mods you mentioned, but why would you want to lessen the chance of a critical hit? Seems to me that’s the way Firaxis intentionally designed it, and it’s clear when you see that bar in the Perfect Information mod with a separate color for the critical hit. Seems to me Firaxis intended that things like flanking and special critical hit bonuses to attacks are basically a damage addition determined with a single roll.

Frankly, that’s a pretty significant gameplay change to force a second roll. Similar to It’s Just a Scratch, by the way, which I wouldn’t dream of using. You might as well hex edit recovering soldiers to restore their health and will! :)

-Tom

“Jank” was definitely the wrong word to use – you’re right that it’s what Firaxis intended – hence my apology. My preference for EU Aim Rolls’ approach probably boils down to gameplay aesthetics. Aesthetics, in the sense of the imbalance I see with shotguns and just the general “feel” of having crit chance be almost unaffected by any of the other hit modifiers in the game (like dodge and cover). I also feel the game became a little too easy for me once I learned to exploit its arguably overpowered aspects: e.g., grenades, shotguns and a few more. I found that eventually my best group setups didn’t reflect the diversity I’m sure the developers would have preferred. Your point about this being a major gameplay change is absolutely true – I wasn’t clear about that in my previous posts.

It’s Just a Scratch is actually NOT the mod I meant to suggest. You’re right, It’s Just a Scratch is a serious buff. It is Wound Recalibration that does what I mentioned above, i.e. shrink the range of wound times. With the right settings, this mod doesn’t change the balance much, it just helps reward better defensive play – and punish worse – with more consistency. Again, this is certainly a gameplay change.

Thanks for the interlocutions!

Edit: I just wanted to say I really love XCom 2. The first playthrough is an absolutely amazing experience. I don’t think it has the same replayability that Long War has, though – and why should it – so, while I do strongly recommend a minimally modded first run, there are a lot of interesting gameplay-changing mods to play around with for subsequent runs.
Also, if you like Gotcha! and don’t think it gives you an unfair advantage, I’d also recommend Preview LOS which can really help with all the difficulties of understanding who can see what from where on the battlefield.

You are even tempting me - ty -

LWS just released the Alien Pack mod today. More info: https://xcom.com/news/en-lws-releases-xcom-2-alien-pack-mod

Cool, thanks.

I need to get back to this game soon. I bought and played through it on release and thoroughly enjoyed it, but I haven’t tried any of the DLC or workshop content yet. Should be a lot of quality stuff by now.

This is currently 45% off on Steam. Worth it?

I definitely enjoyed my playthrough with it. May play through once more in the future, but I can’t replay XCOM / XCOM 2 many times like others can.

This is obviously a rhetorical question. ;-)

Probably. It is simular to the last xcom but also quite different. The changes are in my opinion a mix of good and bad but end up evening out in the end. I’d be happy if xcom 3 was like this or like the previous one.

I’d probably avoid the dlc though until you know you like the game and/or it has a good discount. The dlc is very much hit or miss, more miss than hit.

Doesn’t the DLC cost about $5 more only (Deluxe Edition)?

I was waiting for this to go on sale and the timing couldn’t be more perfect, just finished studying for an exam and now I have time to play!

Well, in that case it is easily worth the $5.

Done and boughted, with money I dont really have lol. Anyway, I played a bit last night and it is sweet. very sweet. I have put in all of the Long War workshop stuff. Is there anything else I really should know or mod? should i be reading all of this here thread?

Idle thumbs podcast told to suck it up and ltp on rookie difficulty. So thats what I’m doing, I aint got no gamer ego lol. So far its been fairly doable, though I did loose two troops on an op when my hacker failed to hack and brought down a van full of bad dudes.

I bought in the sale too, minus the DLC since I read within Steam reviews that whilst it introduces some interesting things, it is also somewhat game breaking via the too-early introduction of missions that are either mandatory or very important. ‘Too Early’ meaning that they are presented before they can reasonably be attempted successfully.

I am delighted that several weeks into my first campaign on Normal my KIA rate is horrendous and it feels like almost entirely my own fault, and I am a long veteran of turn-based tactical games.

That’s an interesting point about the DLC that I haven’t heard anywhere. I got it on sale, with the DLC, but I haven’t installed it yet.

My usual playstyle involves playing the game with no additional mods or tweaks, just try it as it comes “out of the box” so to speak. I’m going to give it a whirl once I come back from vacation (going to the beach for a long weekend in a couple).