4724

Thank you much.

I know I’m generally an outlier in this regard, but it has been my experience in the past that I prefer the original of a game without expansions. Civilization IV was like that for me, and having the disc version means I just install it without the other stuff. Wasn’t sure how this would work on Steam if I bought the expansion and decided I didn’t want to use it.

4725

Basically they appear out of nowhere in the middle of your squad. As I understand it, the alien patrols teleport from point to point when they are out of sight rather than the game modelling the pathing of each alien’s patrol route. Occasionally they will teleport in close to your squad or in the middle of it, though they’re not supposed to do that of course.

It only happened to me once, but my squad was all on overlook, so the alien didn’t last long.

4726

Started my first game of EW, and found that I could only place my base in the US or Europe. Everyplace else was red, and the game wouldn’t accept the choice. Is this something new with Enemy Within? It’s also my first game at Classic difficulty. Could that be it?

4727

I didn’t have that problem.

4728

You have the basic tutorial on

4729

So, can you flank now or it’s still inch forward so you don’t trigger separate alien groups?

4730

I’m not sure. I lost a guy in my first mission so I’m probably not the person to ask.

Those of you using second wave options. Which are you using?

4731

As a dude who has yet to clear the campaign at any difficulty:

Normal - Ironman with randomized damage, promotions, and soldier stats. Plus the new Sid Flanking rule.

4732

Doesn’t that give aliens the bonus as well? If so, my impatience would have me killed a lot more.

4733

Haven’t messed with EW yet, but for regular Second Wave, I typically leave the economy stuff alone but enable soldier stat options.

  • Not Created Equally: Rookies will have random starting stats.
  • Hidden Potential: As a soldier is promoted, stats increase randomly.
  • The Greater Good: Psionics can only be learned from interrogating a psionic alien.
  • More Than Human: The psionic gift is extremely rare.

The drawback is that they result in high soldier turnover rates as I micromanage the stats. However, it also allows me to cherry-pick the above-average soldiers. More importantly, it makes individual soldiers unique and irreplaceable. I often use Red Fog as well, so that combat damage affects in-mission stats.

I’ve toyed around with Damage Roulette, which can make things a bit more varied. I don’t dare enable Absolutely Critical because of the alien free-move.

4734

I don’t think I’ve ever had an alien attack me using their free move, have you?

4735

They never do. Makes me wonder how the teleport bug was a problem besides the immersion breaking.

4736

It wasn’t treated as a free move. It occurred during the aliens’ turn, so they could start firing after they appeared.

4737

Why don’t I have those 2 options?

4738

I’m not sure why they bother tiering them, but this is why:

From -> http://xcom.wikia.com/wiki/Second_Wave

The Second Wave content is considered the third DLC released for XCOM: Enemy Unknown and is part of the game’s 3rd patch.

The following Second Wave features become available by default:
Damage Roulette: Weapons have a wider range of damage.
New Economy: Randomized council member funding.
Not Created Equally: Rookies will have random starting stats.
Hidden Potential: As a soldier is promoted, stats increase randomly.

If the player has finished the game on Normal Mode, these four additional Second Wave features will be Unlocked:
Red Fog: Combat wounds will degrade the soldier’s mission stats.
Absolutely Critical: A flanking shot guarantees a critical hit.
The Greater Good: Psionics can only be learned from interrogating a psionic alien.
Marathon: The game takes considerably longer to complete. (Choosing this option will increase the length of research and construction time.)

If the player has finished the game on Classic Mode, these four additional Second Wave features will be unlocked:
Results Driven: A country offers less funding as its panic level increases.
High Stakes: Random rewards for stopping alien abductions.
Diminishing Returns: Increased cost of satellite construction.
More Than Human: The psionic gift is extremely rare.

If the player has finished the game on Impossible Mode, these four additional Second Wave features will be unlocked:
War Weariness: Council funding goes down over time.
E-115: Elerium degrades over time.
Total Loss: Lose all soldier gear upon death.
Alternate Sources: The power source cost to build facilities increases dramatically.

4739

Most of those aren’t appealing to me, personally.

4740

I wonder if there’s an ini file I can edit to enable these without playing through

4741

The Enemy Within adds new Second Wave options
Aiming Angles: Units receive aim bonus the closer to flanking an enemy they are.
Save Scum: Loading a saved game will reset the random number seed, so taking an identical action may yield different results.
Itchy Trigger Tentacle: Non-cover aliens (Mechtoids, Cyberdiscs, Sectopods) have a 50% chance of firing at your soldiers upon being spotted.
Training Roulette: Each soldier’s training tree will be mostly randomly generated. Does not apply to MEC Troopers.
After a Soldier receives a Class and their first ability, additional ranks can grant randomized abilities from a pool of the all the Class abilities sets minus any skills that are dependent on a specific weapons (which are still Class locked). So you could have an Assault with Sprinter or a Heavy with Deep Pockets.
Mind vs Matter: Psionic soldiers can’t become gene modded or vice-versa.

The bolded were not available for me IIRC, so they may need to be unlocked in some manner.

4742

I noticed the same thing, and was also curious.

I had a Russian woman who spoke Russian, but South Korean and Chinese women who spoke English.

4743

About the voices, it turns out that there is an option in the audio menu that you can check that automatically changes the voices to their respective nationality.