5324

How do you level up a Psi character’s psi abilities? I keep taking my 1 psi character along, she went from capt to maj, but she still only has that starter ability of mind fray.

5325

I think it says somewhere in game that you have to use the abilities to level them up, but it’s been a long time since I played so I may be mistaken.

5326

You’re not mistaken. Using the psi-abilities enough results in the next level of ‘psi-ishness’.

5327

Using the Gollop Chamber maxes out the user’s psi abilities, though. Don’t bother grinding it out if that’s all you have left to do.

5328

Ah, good to know. Because that’s all I have left. Almost hate to see the game end, especially on the reported low note of a so-so last mission; I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a PC game this much in quite awhile.

5329

Well, you can replay it. Some stuff gets old, particularly the more scripted missions, and the Temple ship is the most scripted of all. But the rest of game varies, and you can try different approaches, and higher difficulties. I’ve lost track of the number of games I’ve won at this point. At least 9, since I had the “continental fellow” (win the game with each of the 5 starting continents) from Enemy Unknown, and I’ve won 4 times with Enemy Within.

Tactically, just about every mission is different somehow, even if it’s on a map you know well. In my most recent game I had some very hairy stuff happen when I took the Overseer ship, and I had to do some hard thinking to get out of it without any casualties. I almost lost Annette Durand (aka “that whiny bitch from Progeny”) because she got caught between two Sectopods.

5330

Shes my favourite character because shes the only soldier with any personality at all besides “space marine”.

5331

They have the added benefit in that they are immune to psi-powers, and that they never panic. I have only used them for text, but they could be valuable on UFO missions, where you know you will run into Sectoid Commanders. The SHIV could be used to effect there, I think. The alloy SHIV can also be used as mobile cover, but that is also true of some MECs.

5332

SHIVs are much more expendable than a high-ranking soldier, and much more powerful than a rookie. They’re especially useful to anchor the squad when you’ve had a severe wipe and need to enter a rebuilding phase.

5333

Asia starts where you go right to Experiemental Warfare->Carapace Armor allow for very fast Alloy Shivs, which are much more powerful than most of the aliens until month four when Mutons get their full plasma guns. For Classic and Impossible Ironman games where people are having a hard time with Thin Men, I do suggest this starting continent and tech path.

Hover SHIVs which you get later on in the game are the very best single-unit counter to Sectopods you can come up with, and that alone makes them valuable. They both wreck the Sectopod’s aim with Suppression and can easily tank a hit and have it autohealed later thanks to the new SHIV upgrade in EW that you get after performing a Drone autopsy. They are less good vs. Muton Elites, but Muton Elites are much weaker to traditional squad tactics than Sectopods (with their fixed damage reduction) are.

A lot of people say “just use memetic skin” later in the game for scouting, but it means you can’t really use ghost grenades and ghost armor all that well, and those items are super powerful. Ghost Grenades are stupid good in particular.

5334

Heh, the final villain died via neural feedback overload last night. I think my sniper got one non-deflected hit on him, but otherwise all the dmg was from that genetic mod.

Last mission was definitely meh. Two mechtoids at once too.

5335

I typically take a two-prong approach with that - a double-tap Squad Sight sniper, and a Alloy Cannon armed Assault using Ghost Armor to get to point blank range. What’s not obvious the first time you play is that if you kill the center Ethereal all the other hostiles go away. So you can win that final combat in the first round if both shots from your sniper hit.

5336

So I just played the base defense mission for the first time.

What the hell? At least (I know I fought this many, and I’m sure there were more) this many of the following: five floating discs, four of the mechtoid things, four of the red muton guys, two sectoid commanders, and a whole shitload of other stuff.

I was actually fine until the last wave, but the last wave was basically the sectoid commander, a couple of ordinary sectoids, three mechtoids, a floating disc, and a red muton. So three fully shielded mechtoids running around, with the sectoids shielding them too hidden to get at. What the hell are you supposed to do about that?

Time to start over I guess.

5337

Did you stay in the main room or did you keep advancing to where each new wave was? First time I did it I advance but I also reloaded a lot. On my ironman playthrough I stayed in the main room and let them come to me where my guys could just ambush them one at a time as they enter the killzone.

5338

I’ve run the base defense mission several times now, and surprisingly the heavy stuff usually doesn’t move together. So three Mechtoids sounds really bad, but usually I’ve found that they only attack one at a time, and you can handle that.

Also, sometimes it’s possible to send those Security blueshirts out on suicide missions. Those grenades will kill regular sectoids, which can help with your shielding problems.

I personally think defending against the last wave is easier on the balcony of the MEC bay, but I guess you can try it from the command center. Presumably from the far balcony, so you needn’t worry about aliens coming behind your troops from the MEC bay.

5339

I pretty much stayed in the main room and balcony. I certainly didn’t go after any of the aliens - pretty much let them come to me (except in those cases where it seemed to be worth the risk/loss to go grenade a sectoid to cause him to drop the shield, for example).

I did find that the big stuff didn’t really come through together for the first four/fifths of the mission or so. Then in the MEC Bay last part, I got the three mechtoids (all shielded by some sectoid/sectoid commander), floating disc, and red muton coming together. That pretty much ended my shit right quick.

5340

Just did this on Classic with saves, and with the late-game mob types, including like half a dozen Commander-enhanced Mechtoids, numerous Mutons, Elite Mutons, Cyberdisks, Chryssalids, Heavy Floaters, Berserkers and two, count 'em, two, Sectopods! Not to mention waves of Sectoids. What a great mission!

Failed the first time, as I didn’t really notice the utility of the balcony until too late. The other reason I failed was because I didn’t realize that the game picks your first 5 or 6 top guys automatically - and equips them however they happen to be equipped at the time, which means if you’re fond of using the auto-unequip function and regularly rotate your troops for missions, be careful, and manually kit your best 6 out shortly before the mission hits. Facing mobs like that with accidental laser rifles and LMGs is no picnic, in fact impossible, as I found.

The first couple of waves you pretty much have to be in the killbox, but they’re handleable, and you get some breathing space to position yourself before the seemingly endless last big waves from the mec bay side.

I found the best spot is there’s a wee jutty-out bit on the balcony, one side of which faces the place where they mostly come in. Only half-cover, but with judicious use of amped-up Support smoke, most stuff misses, and if you’re facing the endgame guys, you can be pretty much kitted out with Plasma everything and Titan and Chitin anyway, so plenty headroom for mobs to chip away at you and not kill you. Just remember to split Overwatch and reloads in breathing spaces.

I don’t like deliberately sacrificing anybody if I can help it, but even used judiciously, the security guys die like flies. They died bravely!

Amusingly, the last couple of Mechtoids wouldn’t come in, they were cowering under some stairs and I had to find them. I think when their Commander was killed, they lost courage :)

I think an alternative strategy for that last bit might be to sneak round and kill the Commanders, who are mind controlling lots and lots of Sectoids and armoring the Mechtoids. That would kill a lot of irritating birds with a couple of stones, so you could concentrate on the big stuff. You can sort of see the brain-waves all converging on slightly bright spots, their powerful Psi brains :)

But it’s probably easiest just to set up the killzone and let them trickle in of their own accord.

5341

Aaaand I’ve just discovered the thing of beauty that is the Hover SHIV with Suppression and Plasma cannon!

Where have you been all my life? :)

My 6-man team now standardly consists of one of these cute little fellows up front, a maxed-out Mec and a standard team of 4. Kinetic fist is just too much fun and too much utility to ever not have in a team any more, and EMP burst is golden in the late game - although the flamethrower Mec with Jellied Elerium is no laughing matter either, and very useful too, it’s fun to play in a team with two matching Mecs. I also think the Flamethrower Mec is a bit more useful when you first get Mecs, only being edged out by Kinetic when Mechtoids start appearing. It’s especially useful in the first Terror mission to neutralize Chryssalids - also during the Fishing Village. (Just discovered the other day that there’s a little “wrestling titans” cutscene sometimes when your guy punches on a Mechtoid, cool! :) ) Another thing I’ve discovered is that a Support-based Mec’s AoE half cover thing is very useful in combination with environmental half cover and Support smoke, makes your team pretty much un-hittable for a couple of rounds.

People talk about Mimetic Skin being broken, but I think Suppression is very nearly OP too and it’s been under our noses all along. I’d played about with it a bit and found it definitely very useful but never useful enough to pass up other Heavy or Support abilities. Oddly now that I have a team member dedicated almost solely to the task, it really shines.

Lead with the SHIV guys, lead with the SHIV, life becomes soooo much more logical and ordered, and you have so many more options in case of untoward mob-revealing. Being able to tactically take one mob out of the game for a round (more or less) gives you breathing space to get your guys nicely placed for quick, timely kills.

Re. balance, the more I play this game, the more I think it’s really, really well-balanced, actually, except for that one thing of if the endgame portion sort of petering out. You’re struggling, struggling, struggling, then suddenly you’re more powerful than the aliens and there’s nothing left to do for ages. I think a lot depends on when you do the Alien Base, I reckon the devs have tuned it for people to do it sooner rather than later, so that the tougher endgame mobs appear earlier, so there’s more of a stretch at the mid-to-end where you’re still challenged and there’s still research you need to do. Whereas if you leave it for a long time, there’s this stretch at the end where you’re all dressed up and nowhere to go, so to speak.

5342

While assaulting the base unlocks psionic powers and gives a boost of materials, overall the later you can delay it, the easier the game is. The alien base does get tougher with time, but not as fast as your tech does. The XCom base defense is easier with better gear, even scaled up. And you don’t have to worry about alien psionic attacks until you’ve done the base. A couple of Outsiders on the bridge is really easy compared to 2-3 Sectoid Commanders.

The main reason why people assault the base sooner rather than later is for the panic benefit. Some games on Classic, I absolutely needed that by month 3.

5343

Yeah I’ve always (in my Normal and Classic runs of EU, and my Normal run of EW prior to this Classic one) tried to get ready for the Alien Base attack as soon as possible just in case I need it for the panic reduction. On this last Classic run I was lucky and didn’t need it for that, and so let my tech build up. It’s kind of rewarding to feel more and more powerful than the aliens, but the downside is it’s less and less challenging.

A conundrum of game design in a nutshell I guess - is it fun to feel powerful, or fun to be challenged? :)