Squee
4463
Bleh. No randomized maps and no word about fixing the damn scripted missions. I’ll wait until a sale. Kinda harsh, but it seriously killed the game for me.
There’s enough going on there to call this a proper expansion, rather than the sort of mini-expansion we usually think of as DLC.
- 50% more maps.
- A new soldier class
- A new enemy type
- Additional “genetic” soldier upgrades (sounds more like implants than genetics to me). 5 slots / 10 options.
- New resource type added to money, alloys, and Elerium
- 2 new grenade types
- Rebalance to some soldier skills, i.e. Sniper Snap Shot made more useful
Looks a decent expansion. Though I hope they don’t fall in the Silent Storm trap with the mechs.
Still, stuff like this
We don’t yet know the full extent of the Mech Trooper’s skill tree, but we do know that the first skill they unlock will be Collateral Damage, whcih will allow us to more easily target terrain (which Gupta says is designed to get us closer to the free-fire weapons of X-COM: UFO Defense).
is why they will never get it right. Why they don’t put that basic ability of firing what your soldier see as a basic universal feature in the game? Why lock down in a specific skill of a specific class? How it makes sense that magically the other classes of soldiers can’t just press the trigger and shoot whatever they want?
Razgon
4466
Its not that hard to understand - They are MECHS, man, they can DO THINGS no ordinary soldier CAN DO! MECHS! Who else would be CRAZY enough to target the damn nothing, eh? MECHS!
sigh… Sometimes, I just find game mechanics to be bewilderingly stupid.
I did find that part of the article weird. If Gupta acknowledges that the free-aim aspects of the original game are desirable, locking them to a particular class is really strange. They’re acknowledging that they should be a general mechanic for all soldiers while simultaneously not doing that. You’d think that if they saw “second accessory slot” as being more appropriate as a general upgrade than a skill, they’d see that with free aim as well.
That said, deliberately shooting at terrain with most conventional weapons doesn’t make much sense. You don’t really expect an assault rifle firing a burst of .223 to destroy anything. The LMG maybe, or shotgun if you’re very close, but not assault rifles, sniper rifles, or pistols.
garin
4468
The whole tactical game is based around cover. If you can freely target and destroy it, then that becomes the obvious degenerate strategy. Forget about flanking.
That’s why the ability to deliberately target cover was restricted to limited-use weapons, and now (I assume) an ability with a cooldown.
I can see why they added meld canisters to force players to stop creep forward in battle, but unless they tweak AI behavior it’s going to be fucking terrible. The biggest problem with battles is that the enemy “travels” in packs and gets a free move upon discovery to scatter. Which makes it almost impossible to ambush them and punishes you for maneuvering (which is the big reason why players generally creep forward). The only way this mechanic works in the existing games (council missions) is that they limit the bad guys to Thin Men or Sectoids.
What does that mean exactly? The official wording is “nearly 50% more” which can mean anwhere from 10 new maps on up.
Oh, and sucks to be a console player. You get to buy the whole game again!
garin
4471
It’s 40 new maps.
I wish they’d said more about changes to the strategic layer, that’s really what needs the most attention.
Per the official website:
New tactical challenges are introduced across an additional 47 maps.
40 new maps, or 10 more maps with a fountain in the middle, 10 more maps with a gas station, etc…
Giaddon
4474
It says there are 40 new maps, and 80 in the original, so 50% more.
The combat changes sound interesting. I’m especially looking forward to seeing how the existing skills are tweaked. I’m worried about introducing these new things to pay for (genetic enhancements, new items, mech stuff), as the economy in the original feels balanced on a razor’s edge.
Firaxis says the strategic map is getting significant changes, but isn’t sharing yet.
The Civ V expansions show that Firaxis isn’t afraid to really shake things up with expansions, so there may be some big changes on the horizon.
Edit: also, I’d love to see some changes to the “plot” / the temple ship mission.
And I’m not sure I’ll be able to turn my soldiers into mechs. It looks like they lose their arms and legs! I can’t do that to my beloved soldiers!
Savillo
4475
Not to mention that as far as I can tell, the teleporting bug is still a problem. Unless that’s been fixed in this expansion, it’s just way too risky to make a gutsy push forward.
Although, the article also mentions the Support class getting a tweaked Covering Fire ability, which will now give the soldier first shot when an enemy attacks instead of merely returning fire after the fact. That could help mitigate the need to push forward for meld canisters somewhat.
Giaddon
4476
Also: release date November 12th!
Also: announcement video (just a message from the council of nations creepy guy). Definitely sets up a new/different “story.” Also blue vs. orange.
tgb123
4477
This will certainly be enough to get me to reinstall and play again.
More maps + foreign languages = I’m in. Day one for me. Still…
Agreed. It’s why there isn’t as much tactical variation in the game as there should be (there really isn’t much at all, frankly). I suspect this either isn’t something that can be fixed with the current engine, or it’s something they don’t think needs fixing (beyond the canisters).
This is rather disappointing. If only consoles had the ability to download updates!
I’d rather they simply say it’s going to be $10 more for console players than point out that the entire game has to be bought anew (and that if I want to play the original, I have to use the original disc, not the new one. Dumb).
Indeed. The strategic layer has one strategy - build satellites - and very little else going on. I hope they rework this and make it more balanced. Which is to say, give us actual choices to make (more rock-paper-scissor, less rock-rock). I’m not hopeful though, because while they say the strategic layer is changed, they haven’t been specific. Not a good sign if there really is a big change.
Doesn’t really sound like it from this:
-The endgame will remain largely unchanged, though the new alien units will now appear aboard the alien ship. Generally speaking, the “arc” of the story will remain about the same, provided you get to the endgame.
Giaddon
4480
But there’s like, the enemy within!
Too bad.
…there are new Second Wave options coming as well…one that randomizes the upgrade trees for soldiers beyond their initial class-specific ability. Imagine a Heavy with Lightning Reflexes and Battle Scanner?
There were also some rebalance tweaks to make the weaker abilities more attractive, but this sounds more exciting, because it actually means that you can’t just have a single optimal build or strategy. Losing/replacing a soldier will be a potentially interesting re-roll, instead of just a pure set-back. You can have a high ranked squaddie who’s actually less useful than his lower ranked compatriot.
That said, I’m not sure I like the prospect of just adding another class and another resource. They’re making the tech tree broader, but it sounds like it might not actually be more interesting.
