4643

I bit on this. After using the $18 of GMG credit I had from somewhere, the total damage was $18. I can live with that.

4644

You may not think it’s a deal, but there’s nothing “supposed” at all about the sale price. If you think there is, then post a better price. Otherwise, you got nothing.

4645

I guess I still don’t understand how this could work. You have 11 moves, but unless you’re fielding all heavies or snipers (with the two shot/double tap skills), then you’ve only got 5-6 shots in the rest of your squad.

When my first guy spots the enemy, the ~3 aliens I encounter will likely move backwards into good cover. At that point:

  1. My 5 remaining squaddies may not have a clear shot from where they start (and if they don’t have a clear shot then, per your description, I guess I’m moving forward in the open with snipers using pistols and heavies taking one shot at most?)

  2. After (probably) moving forward, my 5-6 shots are far from guaranteed to kill all three aliens. (With elite mutons or cyberdiscs, I may need 2-4 plasma hits to kill them.) This is especially true if I’m keeping my squad in a tight ball (and thus attacking from the front), since the mutons will likely have heavy cover and I’m not getting any crit. chance bonuses for flanking. If I tried to spread out or use Run and Gun (to dash in for a shotgun attack), I’d risk revealing/waking another alien squad.

Sometimes the aliens will move completely out of LoS during their free move, so it’s impossible for me to kill them that turn. If that happens, or if I’m unlucky and I miss 1-2 shots, then there’s a very good chance that the surviving muton(s) or cyberdiscs will be tossing grenades and/or gunning down my zero-cover ball of troopers, causing some crazy damage.

Can you link to the beaglerush videos you were talking about? I googled and found this:

…But in that video he’s using lots of cover and employing the same cautious tactics we described above. I didn’t see this battle ball you’re describing.

4646

There a few new (to me) details on the expansion in this Ars Technica story. They are adding a resource (“Meld”) to maps, which will disappear after a certain mount of time passes; this is the resource you need to use to create gene-enhance soldiers and mechs. Presumably the timer on it is a way of discouraging conservative “slowly advance by half-moves with overwatch” gameplay.

4647

TB has posted an in depth look at Enemy Within: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Vbj0C1KKwE

He has a lot of good things about the variety and quality of new maps revitalising the game. He’s also quite enthusiastic about the new research options and the gene enhancement / mec trooper choices. He says you have a lot more viable choices in building your team and choosing your gear now.

Add some cool new aliens and it all sounds pretty good!

Wendelius

4648

Thanks for posting that! Lots of cool new info.

4649

I have mixed feelings about timers on meld canisters. Yes, they’re optional, but really, I think I’d be hard-pressed to abandon move-overwatch unless I had some safe way to avoid being instantly flanked by the free alien move. Maybe the “invisible when in high cover” upgrade would make that feasible, but presumably it requires a seeker autopsy, so mid-game? Mostly, the problem is that on the higher difficulty levels, low-cover is insufficient, so advancing is limited by the availability of good high-cover positions.

I do like that the Exalt infiltration missions make pistols upgrades a bit more or a priority, if only marginally. I have a feeling that I’ll be sending a lot of gunslinger snipers on those missions.

So yeah, I’m pretty sure that I’ll pick up the expansion. The question is whether I drop $30 on it or wait until it’s <$15.

4650

Base defense:

4652

Not sure, but I think they can be enabled or disabled at the start of each game, a la second wave.

Also, I’m fighting the urge to start a new playthrough right before the expansion releases.

4653

Civ lets you activate/deactivate the expansions. I can’t imagine them completely annihilating the original.

4654

Enemy Within has been getting very strong reviews. Looking forward to release tomorrow.

4655

Yeah, I see IGN gave it a solid-looking 9. The complaint seems to be over powered late game squad, which is really about right for this kind of game if you can get over that mid-game “hump”. If any game could borrow a page from Diablo III’s upcoming “adventure mode” though it would be XCOM. While I’m incredibly excited to fire up a new campaign with all the updates, new content, and bells and whistles, I’m not sure I’ll play more than the one campaign (though I’ll start several, I’m sure). There are some odd little bugs here and there it sounds like (the review mentioned a bug where snipers can sometimes be seen firing a rifle even if it’s the pistol that was selected (and the pistol is what fires - this is just a graphical bug) for instance). I might hold off on playing until this coming weekend so my first experience isn’t marred with little annoyances like that - I’m still replaying Dragon’s Dogma since Dark Arisen became a thing for Plus members last week.

4656

I’m curious why they re-hid the second wave options on us. Why must I play through the entire game, yet again, before I get access to these options?

4657

So does this essentially replace EU or is EU required? I’m interested in playing XCOM on my iPad but I don’t want to buy both of these.

4658

What?! Really? I want that stuff from the get go, where did they state this change?

4659

In the TB “Look In” video posted by Wendelius above, he states that all the second wave stuff is locked again.

4660

EU is required for PC/Mac, it’s standalone for consoles, but unfortunately I have no idea (and a quick Google search brought up nothing) about the strategy for iPad

4661

You’ve got to be kidding. Why on earth would they do this for an expansion, regardless if some versions are standalone? Most of your audience is going to have already done the vanilla campaign. As for me, the Second Wave modifiers are why I’ve gotten as much replay value out of XCOM as I have.

Very disappointing.

4662

Yeah, I really was looking forward to trying out the Sid inspired flanking rules.

4663

Wow, that is a bummer. I feel like I put a lot of work into some of those 2nd Wave unlocks…