XCOM 2 Catch-All

I'd actually play it without War of the Chosen first personally. WotC changes the entire game, and makes it much more of a "superheroes v supervillians" match up than being a resistance force trying to overthrow an alien occupation.

DLC / Mods - there are a couple of QoL mods I would invest in but try to avoid the gameplay modification mods. They can really mess with the balance if you aren't sure what you are doing.

Seconding. I played both vanilla and WOTC for the first time this year, and I may have been lost with all the stuff that they throw at you with the expansion. Plus, then you get to appreciate how amazing WOTC is and all the changes it made.

If it's your first XCOM, play without WOTC, definitely. It's complex enough the first go around without all the new wrinkles.

Interesting. I read online that WotC was worth just playing without XCom2 vanilla. I’m old hat at XCom from playing through the original about 3 times, though I never did long war. I also played original XCom, terror from the deep, and the abominable Apocalypse.

I do get the superheroes vs super villains vibe though and I hadn’t thought consciously about it before. It does seem to be all about the chosen, and I’m not sure how much I like that.

I never did Apocalypse, but I played sooooooo much X-Com, and TftD. Steam says I have 1900hrs in XCOM(2012) - most of that was several Long War plays. 200hrs in XCOM2, and I stopped playing that before I bought WotC... some day I’ll give it a go.

I'd do vanilla first as well. But you did say that you're not sure if you'll get another playthrough. If you're pretty sure you're only going to play once, go on and do WOTC.

I've just booted this up for the first time in ages.

My Character pool is missing. My character pool is missing

I'm now praying I've backed it up somewhere.

Sorbicol wrote:

My Character pool is missing. My character pool is missing

One who has not played XCOM: lolz Wot??

One who has played XCOM:

Where is the horse and the rider?
Where is the horn that was blowing?
They have passed like rain on the mountain,
Like wind in the meadow..

Ok, time for this question again. What groups are essential in your character pool? Sans mods, I roll with:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Alien
Aliens
Predator
Game of Thrones
I had an ok Babylon 5 one, but I lost it at the WotC re-install
Goodjers

I’m too lazy to change up names or mess with cosmetics. They’re all gonna die, anyway... I don't wanna get attached.

There are a handful of really good, both line expansive and VO quality, voicesets out there. These get assigned to the AAA talent as those soliders emerge. By volume, a lot of these seem to pull from [PlayerChar] voice options from the Saints Row games...

So, uh-- yeah, the "Heroes of XCOM" tend to be individuals that are bit cracked. Also, I have one voiceset kicking around that's a composite Bruce Campbell thing-y (several games he's recorded for, as opposed to old film grabs, so the recording quality is fairly even). That soundset is also dumb-good; likely because they just told him to run free with the barks.

edit/add: there's also one (I believe from a Max Payne game) where Mona Sax is the VO character. There's this terrible (great) bark where she belts out, completely tone deaf in the key of.. Z, something like 'Weeee keeeep driiiiviiiing intoooo the niiiiiight' as the chopper evac/map exit.

I just the goodjers pool. But I think I forgot to add myself to it back when I played. Alas.

Grenn wrote:

Ok, time for this question again. What groups are essential in your character pool? Sans mods, I roll with:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Alien
Aliens
Predator
Game of Thrones
I had an ok Babylon 5 one, but I lost it at the WotC re-install
Goodjers

Stele wrote:

just the goodjers pool.

Asked. Answered.

Somehow, Giles always ends up an MVP in all my playthroughs.

Managed a partial recovery from a back up I made way back when I first got the game. I’ve got about 20 people from the ~100 or so I think I had.

I’m playing through the legacy missions at the moment before deciding on another campaign. Might have to spend some time re-creating a fair few people though.

Grenn wrote:

Ok, time for this question again. What groups are essential in your character pool? Sans mods, I roll with:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Alien
Aliens
Predator
Game of Thrones
I had an ok Babylon 5 one, but I lost it at the WotC re-install
Goodjers

My games use just a Mass Effect/Dragon's Age roster (pretty sure I got the DA one from someone on here). I have tried it without named rosters, and it just doesn't seem the same. I'm not sure the battle to free the Earth would go as well without DA:I's Lady Josephine's transformation into the legendary 'Ruffles the Butcher'.

I did try putting some ex-colleagues I despised in as dark VIP's, but found that very very few of them were being brought in alive. Or whole.

I have restarted several times already, as I try to get a feel for how to build and prioritize research and missions (built the Training Center first last time, what a mistake) and which difficulty level to settle on.

I'd like to play ironman, but I can't see that being a good idea unless I've already beaten the game once.

I have never named my characters before, except once when I did the Muppets on the recent XCOM 1. I am really intrigued by the idea of using a well done character pool (or a combination of them). I am never going to create my own though. I'd love Buffy, Babylon 5 would also be cool, reading from above, but they sound like they were personal creations. Any good modder-made ones out there to download?

Greatajax wrote:

I have restarted several times already, as I try to get a feel for how to build and prioritize research and missions (built the Training Center first last time, what a mistake) and which difficulty level to settle on.

I'd like to play ironman, but I can't see that being a good idea unless I've already beaten the game once.

I have never named my characters before, except once when I did the Muppets on the recent XCOM 1. I am really intrigued by the idea of using a well done character pool (or a combination of them). I am never going to create my own though. I'd love Buffy, Babylon 5 would also be cool, reading from above, but they sound like they were personal creations. Any good modder-made ones out there to download?

Go to the front of this thread and download the GJW character pool (use the github link and follow the instructions)

You’ll get to kill your favourite GJWers over and over again. What more could you ask for?

Training Center can definitely wait, as you won;t have any points to use to train abilities until you've gotten deeper in the game, and you won't lose anything in the meantime. If those points begin to burn a hole in your pocket so to speak you can use them on your Skirmishers, Reapers, and Templars to upgrade them while you wait for the right time.

I generally build the Resistance Ring first so I can get some covert actions going (and get faction heroes ASAP) and Guerrilla Tactics School second - I rarely get anyone advanced to Sargent before it's finished and its of little use before that happens.

I saw an interesting strategy that puts a laboratory as your first or second building. In addition to making research faster, it will increase the likelihood of inspiration and breakthroughs.

Grenn wrote:

I saw an interesting strategy that puts a laboratory as your first or second building. In addition to making research faster, it will increase the likelihood of inspiration and breakthroughs.

That a good strategy for Legend playthroughs - Legend doubles the length of research (and the time it takes to build facilities and clear debris) so building the Laboratory first makes a lot of sense. Follow that up with the resistance ring so you get access to resistance missions that keep the avatar progression in check. If you can't cope with a squad of 4 though it can make more sense to get the GTS up second if your are struggling.

15 new posts in the Xcom thread!!! NEW STUFF IS COMING!!!

Oh... *sigh*

Started a Commander Ironman campaign. Boy am I out of touch. So many casualties......

I'm about half way through an ironman WotC run using 2020 Presidential candidates. So far Warren (ranger) and Buttigieg (specialist) are dead, and I got Delaney (ranger) and Williamson (sniper) captured.

Booker (ranger) Gillibrand (psi) and Gabbard (sniper) are my MVPs.

I should really have learned by now that Legend Ironman is too much for me. My entire run just burned because I moved one square too far to the right. 3 pods activate at once and bang, there it goes. Too much XCOM

Exactly the right amount of XCOM. Because ending an entire run on a stroke of bad luck is XCOM, BABY!

Please, please don't nudge me into another 60 hour run through.

Budo wrote:

Please, please don't nudge me into another 60 hour run through.

Welcome back, Commander.

Budo is the one where they open the pod that he's in, there is a note stuck onto the tube

"If you're from X-Com, close this tube back up and get lost."

Sorbicol wrote:
Budo wrote:

Please, please don't nudge me into another 60 hour run through.

Welcome back, Commander.

I just read this aloud to myself and I'm thinking about finishing an old campaign myself.