XCOM: Enemy Unknown

ooomalley · 2014-08-28T09:40:03.000Z

I mean, it makes sense in an action-movie kind of way (except for the part where the hostage dies).

Giaddon · 2014-08-29T06:57:03.000Z

Well, in XCOM fashion, I went straight from that disaster into a catastrophe, a full squad wipe that began when my best assault missed a 91% shot.

But! Since then I’ve wrestled my team back into fighting form. I just finished Newfoundland successfully (33 kill count!) and have a crack fighting force. My biggest concern now is getting my fighter craft up to par, as I’m going to lose Russia at the end of the month because they are at full panic despite having a satellite because I couldn’t shoot down a large UFO. I almost have heavy lasers, and at the end of the month all of Asia and the USA will be under satellite protection. It can all come crashing down at any moment, but I have a foothold at least.

scharmers · 2014-08-29T12:49:58.000Z

Giaddon:

Holy shitsnacks to I have a love/hate relationship with this game.

My latest C/I game (like my 10th start) was going really well. I finally had some leveled up soldiers, I had a MEC, I even had the ability to field 5 guys. I get a hostage rescue mission from the council. No big deal. And everything goes well. One of my assaults dies due to an unlucky series of events, but fine – that’s XCOM, right? I have the hostage hiding behind a truck, one turn away from getting into the evac zone. As far as I know, I’ve got the last Thin Man in my sights. My MEC is close, but out of ammo – perfect opportunity to try the kinetic fist! The pair are inside a building. I go ahead and punch the thin man… who blasts straight through the brick wall of the building and lands on the car the hostage was hiding behind blowing up the car and instantly killing the hostage, failing the mission.

Somewhere, Michael Bay just finished up and tucked it back in his pants.

Giaddon · 2014-09-08T07:56:11.000Z

Whew! after more then 10 starts, that’s Enemy Within C/I in the bag.

I immediately started a new game with some Second Wave options - New Economy, Results Driven, High Stakes, Not Created Equal, Hidden Potential, Absolutely Critical (which is a killer!), Aiming Angles, and Training Roulette (which is awesome!).

Really liking them so far.

I was skeptical at first, but overall I really like the Enemy Within additions. Exalt is totally lame, but most everything else is a solid addition. It is also significantly harder, with slower promotions for soldiers and almost double the costs of everything (I was running low on weapon fragments all the time, which never happened in the original), plus the damn Mechtoids and Sectopods! Meld and the related upgrades are very cool. A lot of the new items, like flashbangs and ghost grenades, change the game pretty significantly (flashbangs are especially great), and being able to equip 2 items is awesome.

So yeah, back into a spiral of XCOM addiction. Such an awesome game.

Gus_Smedstad1 · 2014-09-08T08:20:56.000Z

I rather like the Exalt missions. They’re a welcome change of pace.

They don’t carry plasma weapons, so they don’t have the instant-death that’s common with alien missions. By the time they have lasers, you have armor that lets you survive a couple of laser hits.

The Intel missions put you on the defense, where you’re on offense for all alien missions except the HQ defense mission. That changes your tactics. The spy rescue missions are a bit more routine.

It’s definitely a welcome expansion.

Giaddon · 2014-09-08T08:52:16.000Z

Oh, and Operation Ashes and Temples is so good!

ElGuapo · 2014-09-10T07:37:20.000Z

So I started up a new game of this earlier in the week (base game, no expansions) and I have to say . . . they really just did a terrific job with this game.

Everything I liked about the old game is in there. The creepy music and dark atmosphere. The slow pace of the tactical game, leapfrogging while overwatching. The base building stuff.

But they added so many good touches. They balanced it so well. They also added so many good details.

Cutscenes for most of the research projects, new facility completions, building new weapons, autopsies, etc.
Outfitting your squad right in the loading bay of the hanger.
The perks system on promotion leading to specialized soliders, and the fact that they get a specialization as soon as they reach squaddie, which is something all good players did in the original.
The fact that you can look around your base and see soliders running on treadmills, etc.
The use of alien bodies to make your interceptors better vs. selling them.

Everywhere you look there is a choice to balance out, a path to take, a priority to set. Not to mention the flow of combat is just awesome with shifting perspectives on the shots, little cutscenes, slowing down a character’s movement when they are being shot at from overwatch, the destructability of everything.

They just got everything right in this game. Kudos to them.

Mysterio · 2014-09-10T07:55:43.000Z

Does it make more sense to start a new game with EW than without? I started a game of EU before EW was released, but barely scratched the surface. Would I be missing any content by skipping EU?

Wolff · 2014-09-10T08:00:58.000Z

The difficulty spike is harder in the beginning, especially with more choices for limited resources, but xcom OP happens earlier as well, at least on I/I. For veterans I really recommend the long war mod, has easily added 50+ hours for me, with no end in sight.

Giaddon · 2014-09-10T08:04:01.000Z

Definitely play vanilla EU first. It’s a sublime experience on its own, and while I eventually came around to EW, it does add a lot of bloat to a wonderfully lean experience. When you beat vanilla classic, move on to EW. It will help to be rock-solid on the basics before throwing in meld, exalt, and the tougher enemies in EW.

You won’t miss any content by going straight to EW, but the flow of the game is significantly different.

ElGuapo · 2014-09-10T08:24:46.000Z

Man all this talk of taking on humans as X-COM reminds me of the wonderful Cult of Osiris raids in X-COM: Apocalypse.

In many ways that was my absolutely favorite X-COM game. I just hated the art direction. I loved just about everything else. Oh, the days of watching 6 hoverbikes swarm a Godzilla alien and then causing an entire freeway and the football stadium to collapse because of errant missiles. Good times.

Grifman · 2014-09-10T18:48:34.000Z

Mysterio:

Does it make more sense to start a new game with EW than without? I started a game of EU before EW was released, but barely scratched the surface. Would I be missing any content by skipping EU?

I wouldn’t waste any time on EU. I think EW is a huge improvement on the game, so much that I think the regular is bland by comparison.

thither · 2014-09-11T07:46:30.000Z

Grifman:

I wouldn’t waste any time on EU. I think EW is a huge improvement on the game, so much that I think the regular is bland by comparison.

Yeah, I agree with this, I’d just jump straight into EW. The missions themselves wind up being somewhat more varied with the Exalt stuff, and you have some interesting choices and strategies with the MEC and gene mod stuff. (I finished EU before I got EW, and although I liked EW I had started to get somewhat burnt out on the game by that point.) When you get tired of EW, there’s the Long War mod waiting for you…

Scotch_Lufkin · 2014-09-11T12:57:54.000Z

EW is still EU with more stuff - it’s a literal expansion of more content.

Lloyd_Heilbrunn · 2014-09-17T21:52:24.000Z

Finally got a new computer so I can actually play this. Quite fun but:

It would have been nice if I had figured out before halfway into the game that Green in the Situation Room is actually worse than Yellow.

Not in the manual and pretty counterintuitive…

garin · 2014-09-17T22:06:48.000Z

Lloyd Heilbrunn:

It would have been nice if I had figured out before halfway into the game that Green in the Situation Room is actually worse than Yellow.

Not in the manual and pretty counterintuitive…

I’m not sure what you mean here. The panic display?

Lloyd_Heilbrunn · 2014-09-17T22:24:41.000Z

Yes the panic screen, I assumed Green was OK, as is White, but Yellow(warning color) was worse than Green. So I was picking abductions sites by prioritizing Yellow over Green.

Giaddon · 2014-09-18T04:35:17.000Z

Huh? It just goes Blue -> Yellow -> Red. Hell, only look at the pips in the situation room. Don’t trust the colors :)

Gus_Smedstad1 · 2014-09-18T04:42:22.000Z

Yeah, I always counted the number of ticks, rather than looking at color. A skipped country goes up 2, all other countries on the same continent as the skipped country go up 1. Mission success reduces panic in the Abduction country by 3. Since 5 Panic is the critical level, I generally prioritized countries that would result in 5 either in that country or in another country in the same continent.

Also keep in mind that putting up a satellite reduce panic by 1 for that country, so you can save 1-3 panic 5 countries every month. Just be sure to launch on the last day or so.

Lloyd_Heilbrunn · 2014-09-18T12:40:10.000Z

Giaddon:

Huh? It just goes Blue -> Yellow -> Red. Hell, only look at the pips in the situation room. Don’t trust the colors :)

Gus_Smedstad:

Yeah, I always counted the number of ticks, rather than looking at color. A skipped country goes up 2, all other countries on the same continent as the skipped country go up 1. Mission success reduces panic in the Abduction country by 3. Since 5 Panic is the critical level, I generally prioritized countries that would result in 5 either in that country or in another country in the same continent.

Also keep in mind that putting up a satellite reduce panic by 1 for that country, so you can save 1-3 panic 5 countries every month. Just be sure to launch on the last day or so.

I’m confused.

My game seems to go White (maybe it’s a very light blue) -> Yellow -> Green -> Red. Each stage has up to 5 pips.