3281

Hover SHIVs most certainly have guns and their advantage is 10 higher defense and the ability to fly for recon or the additional defense from being airborne.

3282

It just dawned on me: does it have an overwatch function? If it doesn’t, it might explain why I perhaps mistakenly assumed it couldn’t fire… As for the airborne option: that was the only icon available, but greyed out every time I wanted to try. Which, admittingly, wasn’t very often: I got fed up with it very fast and restarted the mission. On hindsight, I may have been way to impatiented with it…

@ papageno: the German accent in the cutscenes is exactly what I would have loved from the soldiers in the field, those from around Germany anyway. It really doesn’t have to be perfect, but anything other then flawless American would be an improvement. I guess I’ll join the que for the voicework-mod…

3283

When I built an Alloy SHIV it didn’t have a gun either. I think it’s just a bug.

3284

It has overwatch by default and suppression with the appropriate research.

The main problem with them is that I wanted them to be far tougher than humans in powered armor, but they’re quite frail if positioned poorly. I can understand that for the base model but ones made of alien alloys and then further improvements with the hover model still can take 10 damage from weapons regularly.

Some customization would have been nice as well since they obviously don’t get promotions. The hover model does have one disadvantage over the ground versions in that you cannot take cover behind it even when it’s not flying.

Basically you have to decide if all the funds and resources to develop them are worth having a unit that cannot be affected by poison or telepathy and can function as mobile cover. They really should not take damage from the flames of exploding vehicles either, but for some reason the devs have it functioning that way.

3285

If you get a SHIV without a gun, you’re getting hit by the SHIV bug. Expect them to not be deployable next mission, or ever again for that matter.

In other news, I decided to just win the game and a certain… unit… seems silly. Its just beyond the pale and I can’t see how anyone could get through Ironman with them out there.

3286

Some of us have beat Ironman. I’m really not sure what you’re referring to.

3287

Well, if they don’t have a gun, I can see why you wont be able to deploy them again… And from what I’ve read from the original xcom, this might even be intentional and not a bug. Production error, just like the failing guideing system that caused that rocket to kill 2 squadmates…;-)

Seriously though: sounds like I’ll wait with the Shivs until they’ve patched it!

3288

After getting thrashed on the strategic layer on Classic, I turned the difficulty down to Normal last night to see what it’s like. What a difference.

On Classic every mission ended with the survivors mournfully contemplating the fallen and their own inevitable demise.

On Normal, every mission ended with the unscathed victors sharing a beer and a fist bump while “Don’t Stop Believing” blared on the soundtrack.*

*Not literally. Though if someone could mod that it, it would be awesome.

3289

Comments like that make me lament how terrible I must actually be at this game, considering that I was slowly but methodically destroyed on Normal my first time through. I’ve just re-started, and maybe it’ll be a cakewalk with what I’ve learned now, but I’m skeptical.

3290

Abduction missions on Classic are a choice between +$200 and +4 Engineers, and the decision really comes down to a matter of time before the end of the month.

If it’s before the 9th take the +4 Engineers. The immediate discount to satellite costs and ability to use those satellites for bonus money by month’s end will be worth more than $200. If it’s after that, take the money and build a workshop and power generator in preparation for building satellites and uplinks the following month.

Remember that you start with 5 Engineers and can build an uplink at 10, 20, and 30. By the end of the first month you want to have a second satellite launched and either build a workshop or get a +4 Engineer bonus and make sure one of your first two countries gives you an engineer at months end (either way you’ll have 10 engineers for February and can build another uplink and 3 more satellites).

4 Satellite uplinks in a 2x2 is your goal, as that’s 12 satellites. Do what it takes to build a new uplink and stay as max satellite capacity every month until you achieve this. Remember that you can hold off launching satellites until the last day before the Council Report and then use them to knock 5-bar countries back down so they don’t leave. Once you have a satellite up you’ll no longer get abduction missions in that country. I heartily recommend picking either Europe or Asia as the continent you let fail and just let them act as lightning rods to panic themselves out by absorbing the brunt of the abduction missions.

3291

I have started 3-4 times now. Tutorial first, then a Normal. Did ok, but had not grasped the importance of satellites at all. Also kind of had a jacked up base layout. Third time went Classic Ironman (lol, short game). Finally, back to Normal where I was cruising up until now…

I had only three KIA so far, and two on the same mission very early, other than that, just was kicking ass on that part of the game. Done a Terror mission, saving 17 of 18. So, early May and I do the story mission where you invade the Alien base. Man, its kicking my ass!

So first problem, I didn’t bring all of the A-team. I generally bring a Rookie along every mission, this one too. Bad call! Also, normally roll with 2 Snipers…didn’t do that! Another bad call. Anyway, just the very first encounter was like my toughest fight, the Cyberdisc. Dropped it though, no KIA. Well next fight, pair of Mutons on either side of the room. 1 KIA. Also, one of them warped behind me, very irritating.

Next group though is where I am just getting hosed. Its 3 groups of 3 Chrysallids and my 5 man team is just not able to drop them, out of rockets, no grenades (and they suck anyway).

I have reloaded like 4 times? And prior to this, not once the whole game. Anyway. Grr.

3292

I’m in the late stages in my classic game now (just stormed the overseer and captured my first ethreal) and I’ve managed to keep all the nations from leaving.

I built a satellite the first month and laid the ground work for my next uplink (power, workshops, etc). Second month I built an uplink and the satellites for it. I fell behind a bit in the third month and instead of building a nexus like I wanted I had to build another uplink instead and the satellites for it.

At that point things got a little dicey and it looked like a couple of countries might leave the council, but I had gotten everything I needed in place for the base assault, and once it looked like I was out of other options I attacked the base and used the global panic reduction from it to keep the council fully intact.

Then it was just a matter of building some more satellites and the capacity for them. Now I’m just in a holding pattern doing missions and trying to unlock a few more achievements and build up my team for the last mission.

Overall classic is definitely bloodier than normal. I lost one soldier in my entire playthrough on normal and that one to bad luck, but I think I’ve lost about 10 or 12 in my current game.

For whatever reason my classic playthrough has also been a lot buggier. The only issues I saw in my first game were the camera issues on a couple of the alien ships, but here I’ve started running into that teleport bug more and more.

3293

Speaking of bugs, I got hit by the phantom SHIV bug as well.

I’m concerned that since this is a multiplatform title, Firaxis/Take2 will hold PC patches until they get certification for the console patches. I’m also afraid that this means we can only expect a couple of patches before they stop entirely whether or not the bugs are fixed because of the penalties the platform holders charge for any patch after the second one.

3294

It’s a bit tricky, at first one think “oh satellites, they are mainly to increase my sensor cover and detect ufos”. Nope.

They really are the STANDARD INCOME GENERATION STRUCTURE. The equivalent to “farms” or “mines” of other games. And additionally they reduce panic levels, and can give extra bonuses when you have full coverage.
So, like in other games, building them by a lot, and building them early is a priority.

3295

I agree with this summarization of the game. The game progresses through this defined path, you must take certain actions to move the story forward to win the game. This isn’t an open ended game like Civilization where you choose your own path to victory. In the new XCOM your can tweak the parameters within a fairly strict path. The battles play out pretty similarly too, so that isn’t a reason for me to play this game many times.

For me the new XCOM is a mostly enjoyable ride of discovery down the path for the first time. I’m almost done with my first play through and will probably put it away for a while. I’ll probably give it a go on classic at some point in the future with a different location for my base. Can’t see myself playing much more after that. XCOM has the same lifespan as a story driven shooter or role playing game for me. After the first play through much of the magic has been used up.

3296

This is pretty much my view, too. Enemy Unknown doesn’t have the depth to last hundreds of hours of play. It’s frankly a different design philosophy that shouldn’t be surprising: the original xcom had tremendous depth and variety, but frankly wasn’t that accessible (by today’s standards, at least).

While I conceptually appreciate a game that can be played for hundreds of hours, I can see why a dev would focus on a more polished and streamlined 30+ hours of play, even if it sacrifices the possibility of playing hundreds of hours. Hell, I can’t realistically play any game for hundreds of hours anymore: I just feel a little sorry for today’s generation of young bucks.

3297

Well, I made it through play through 1 on normal difficulty. I think my score was between 20000-29000. I lost 1 battle, forgot how many I won. I never built a lab, but my headquarters were in Europe so I got the science bonus I think. I had full satellite coverage in North and South America and Europe. I lost all of Africa and Australia.

I found that once my soldiers were developed they were pretty unstoppable, specially with my fully promoted sniper. He was death personified. Keep him back and he rained death from afar. If you keep your soldiers together so you don’t wake up multiple groups of enemies the battles were very manageable. It seems like there needs to be some pressure so the player can’t take an unlimited amount of time to win a battle (beat group 1, reload weapons, get group in formation, look for group 2). It would have been nice if the aliens alerted their buddies so they could take action instead of remain in the sleeping state until uncovered - at least if they have the time before being destroyed.

I’m sure it is harder on a higher difficulty level, but in this case I’m not sure if would raise the fun that much unless the enemies play smarter. They supposedly do, but I’m not sure in what way. I think the game would have benefited from a bit more detailed combat model regarding cover, using action points instead of a two move method. Also with their engine LOS from a different location was hard to predict sometimes.

As I said in my prior post there was a good sense of discovery, the battles were good enough to be enjoyable (but had a very samey feel to them), but this plays out more like a story driven RPG without dialog choices. For the gameplay, on its own doesn’t have much replay value for me. I wish I waited until the inevitable price drops since I don’t have unlimited gaming funds. I think I’m enjoying Dishonored more even though historically strategy games have been my genre of choice.

3298

I hope there’s a PC mod soon-ish that allows you to stay fully zoomed out during combat. (doesn’t zoom in to watch your characters move).

3299

There is pressure to ensure you don’t take forever to win a battle but you selected normal which features a “shackled” AI and is essentially easy difficulty for gamers whose gaming experience extends beyond facebook. On classic, I frequently see patrols either coincidentally run into me mid-battle or they have been ordered into the area by whatever overseer AI they have implemented. Regardless, I am very careful about where and how I engage enemies otherwise it turns into a bloodbath (especially after mutons appear).

Certainly, fully upgraded soldiers are tremendous assets. I just don’t see how anyone runs with more than a few of them without spamming reloads, and I don’t see how you can realistically balance a game for people who do that sort of thing.

3300

Pretty much cleared the entire game with the first 6 soldiers I got, and a few others when one of them (or all) were in the hospital. I tried to level a few others at the start to ensure I had enough backups.

I saved a lot though… so quickly ran into the savegame “feature”, and had to reload a few times as well – also when the game started crashing and savegames got corrupted I had to save two savegames to ensure I had progress stored.

Fun game, but not much replay value currently, even though I’d like to conquer it ‘better’.

Having the tutorial deliberately sabotage one achievement was really annoying to discover after completing the game, since I never lost another soldier.