XCOM: Enemy Unknown

[Dejin]

Actually, one of the things about the new XCOM that I’m quite fond of is that the range of skills at least gives a semblance of the OGs appeal to a wide range of players.
Because, here there are maybe skills clearly superior to others to the number cruncher, but there’s a chance that the other choice is still viable if you (want to) play the game differently. For example, a sniper with squadsight IS great, but also sometimes hard (or even impossible) to use (much), depending on the map layout. Do you still take one? Or would you rather have a Sniper that can move AND act the same turn, just because he can keep up with your squad better? Or do you say screw the sniper" and take another Heavy, Assault or Support instead?
At least SOME options to chose from in this otherwise “VERY narror corridor” type of game.

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rezaf

I wish they would provide some information on the map ahead of time. That seems like the sort of thing that XCom Command would know in advance, and it would let me adjust my squad appropriately both in terms of which squad members to take and potentially which weapons and backpack items to bring along.

[Tim_Partlett]

Nellie just gifted me this game out of nowhere so I’m now going to have to play it. What a nice guy!

[Papageno]

The hologlobe pastes the current panic levels onto the Council member countries with their corresponding color codes.

I don’t think it’s possible to launch two Interceptors at once at the same UFO.

Thanks for the answer about the hologlobe.

Re multiple interceptors, if you can’t launch two at once at the same UFO, why bother letting you have more than one per continent? Just for a variety of weapon/defensive loadouts?

Am I misremembering that one could use 2 in the old game BTW?

[forgeforsaken]

Thanks for the answer about the hologlobe.

Re multiple interceptors, if you can’t launch two at once at the same UFO, why bother letting you have more than one per continent? Just for a variety of weapon/defensive loadouts?

Am I misremembering that one could use 2 in the old game BTW?

You can launch a second after you recall the first

[Dejin]

Re multiple interceptors, if you can’t launch two at once at the same UFO, why bother letting you have more than one per continent? Just for a variety of weapon/defensive loadouts?

Am I misremembering that one could use 2 in the old game BTW?

If an interceptor either goes down or retreats, the UFO is still out there and you can launch your second interceptor after it. Also if your fighter gets chewed up, I think there’s a delay while it’s being repaired and unavailable for interception (although I haven’t tracked this interval myself, so it’s possible it’s very short or non-existent). So it may be useful to have a second fighter available to cover while the first is being repaired.

[Alan_Au]

I wish they would provide some information on the map ahead of time. That seems like the sort of thing that XCom Command would know in advance, and it would let me adjust my squad appropriately both in terms of which squad members to take and potentially which weapons and backpack items to bring along.

Once you have the technology, you can build a base facility which provides more information about enemy numbers/composition. Sadly, it doesn’t help with terrain knowledge, but downed UFOs are always in wooded areas while abductions are always in urban settings.

[Universal_Leader]

If an interceptor either goes down or retreats, the UFO is still out there and you can launch your second interceptor after it. Also if your fighter gets chewed up, I think there’s a delay while it’s being repaired and unavailable for interception (although I haven’t tracked this interval myself, so it’s possible it’s very short or non-existent). So it may be useful to have a second fighter available to cover while the first is being repaired.

It can take several days to repair a damaged interceptor, so you may need spares to takes down some of the tougher UFOs. There’s a tech you can research (forget what it is) that reduces interceptor repair time.

[Dejin]

Once you have the technology, you can build a base facility which provides more information about enemy numbers/composition. Sadly, it doesn’t help with terrain knowledge, but downed UFOs are always in wooded areas while abductions are always in urban settings.

Good to know, sadly my standard ironman game died when I got stuck assaulting the enemy base (I can’t get through a door). And my attempts at Classic have not exactly given me much opportunity to explore more than basic technology.

Now that you mention it, the lack of rural settings similar to the original’s common Farm settings does seem rather conspicuous. I also haven’t seen anything like the original’s suburbia terror missions where I’m running through people’s houses.

[instant0]

In 2012 the Aliens are content to assaulting highways, shopping malls and parking lots to terrorize the populace

[Alan_Dunkin]

I might have missed it, but what’s the deal with the SHIVs you can’t use for some reason? It seems like there’s a bug where the model doesn’t load when you look in the barracks (perhaps the data is corrupt and/or missing) so you can’t use it on a mission.

— Alan

[Alan_Au]

I might have missed it, but what’s the deal with the SHIVs you can’t use for some reason? It seems like there’s a bug where the model doesn’t load when you look in the barracks (perhaps the data is corrupt and/or missing) so you can’t use it on a mission.

— Alan

That’s a known bug, which sucks because SHIVs turn out to be useful. They don’t gain promotions, but their stats are excellent across the board.

[Miramon]

In 2012 the Aliens are content to assaulting highways, shopping malls and parking lots to terrorize the populace

On halloween they also attack cemeteries.

Anyway, they obviously had very sparse art resources on this project. None of the countries are different from one another in any way at all, which takes some of the global flavor out of the game.

Any given piece of fluff or color is a trivial thing compared to gameplay, but it does add up. Even a little differentiation between China and the US or between Brazil and Germany might have been fun.

[Soapyfrog]

I think the variety in maps is quite remarkable. In any case I am quite happy that they live up to the standards of the orginal xcom for the most part.

My main gripe right now is that I feel that in classic mode the game is not being entirely honest about my percentage chance of hitting something. Particularly when there is elevation involved, the game does not seem to be giving me the full story. Possibly there is some sort of armour resistance factor that is not being calculated in or something.

[Pod]

I do agree that the poison thing is stupid because it doesn’t appear to be a projectile based attack. They just seem to be able to poison areas at will with 100% accuracy.

Like a grenade ? :)

anyway: I really think the game needs to put an icon over cars that are about to explode. Why on earth would I want to put my troops next to it (yet always seem to manage to do so).

[SlyFrog]

Ok, I have a guy down, who is critical and bleeding out. I have a guy standing next to him with a medikit. The medikit has two charges left (the user is a support with the three use ability).

I can tap the medikit button, and it centers on the critically wounded guy. Says that I need to stabilize him with a medikit. But the “OK” button is greyed out, and it won’t let me complete the action to stabilize him. What’s going on?

[nKoan]

I thought the cars were always on fire or smoking one turn before they explode.

[Mysterio]

Ok, I have a guy down, who is critical and bleeding out. I have a guy standing next to him with a medikit. The medikit has two charges left (the user is a support with the three use ability).

I can tap the medikit button, and it centers on the critically wounded guy. Says that I need to stabilize him with a medikit. But the “OK” button is greyed out, and it won’t let me complete the action to stabilize him. What’s going on?

You first need to stabilize him (should be action button #2 or so) and then heal him with the other action button.

[MikeJ]

That and they says things like ‘That gas tank is about to light up’. Some larger vehicles seem much less susceptible to it though. Overall, I prefer the hints to be contextual and in-game. If you don’t notice that the car you are about to hide behind is on fire, then maybe the squaddie didn’t notice either, being in the heat of battle and all.

[Quaro]

I thought the cars were always on fire or smoking one turn before they explode.

Yeah. They explode right away if hit with a rocket or grenade, otherwise, you just have one turn warning.

I
My main gripe right now is that I feel that in classic mode the game is not being entirely honest about my percentage chance of hitting something. Particularly when there is elevation involved, the game does not seem to be giving me the full story. Possibly there is some sort of armour resistance factor that is not being calculated in or something.

You can hit the info button to see the various factors at play. They don’t pull any tricks with the number you see though, 80% is always 80%.

[Pod]

That and they says things like ‘That gas tank is about to light up’. Some larger vehicles seem much less susceptible to it though. Overall, I prefer the hints to be contextual and in-game. If you don’t notice that the car you are about to hide behind is on fire, then maybe the squaddie didn’t notice either, being in the heat of battle and all.

I think it was smoking and I didn’t notice.

NEXT GRIPE:
My support has “covering fire” ability that allows him to use overwatch ion anyone who shoots. He also has supression, which reduces the target’s aim and also gives me a reaction shot against him.

So why can that targetted muton SHOOT BACK at me without my support doing anything? Are these two abilities not allowed to work together like this? I purposfully used ‘supression’ rather than ‘overwatch’ because I thought it would still give me the ‘covering fire’ bonus on a single target, at the downside of overwatch on all other targets.