XCOM 2 Catch-All

I got a SITREP that makes all radio contacts instant. It is very powerful for the strategic game.

sortimat wrote:

i found the assassin by far the hardest. The other two were relatively easy. The issue for me was that the assassin runs out of hiding, kills someone, and runs back into hiding. couldn't take overwatch shots etc. it seemed to be 2 things you need to beat him, first having the armor/health to be able to survive the 10-12 dmg sword attack, or second, dumb luck that the assassin started the attack far enough away that they couldn't escape afterwards.

I'll spoiler this hot tip, but it's important for fighting the assassin.

Spoiler:

Battle Scanner utility items and whatever that specialist skill that scans the battlefield is called. Both will reveal hidden units, including the assassin.

I'm early in the game right now, so please forgive my ignorance, but I have a question regarding bonds. I know you can only form one bond at a time between a pair of soldiers, but if two people have been described as eligible for a bond, do you have to accept it, or can you hold out for another potential pairing?

I made a really good Gordon Freeman, and apparently he is eligible for a bond with a random, but my Alyx Vance just showed up, and I want to make that pair happen.

Certis wrote:
sortimat wrote:

i found the assassin by far the hardest. The other two were relatively easy. The issue for me was that the assassin runs out of hiding, kills someone, and runs back into hiding. couldn't take overwatch shots etc. it seemed to be 2 things you need to beat him, first having the armor/health to be able to survive the 10-12 dmg sword attack, or second, dumb luck that the assassin started the attack far enough away that they couldn't escape afterwards.

I'll spoiler this hot tip, but it's important for fighting the assassin.

Spoiler:

Battle Scanner utility items and whatever that specialist skill that scans the battlefield is called. Both will reveal hidden units, including the assassin.

See I have the opposite. Assassin is easy for me, HATE the Warlock. Mind Control is just the worst. Always has been.

The weapons you get after defeating the Chosen are very nice.

Budo wrote:
Certis wrote:
sortimat wrote:

i found the assassin by far the hardest. The other two were relatively easy. The issue for me was that the assassin runs out of hiding, kills someone, and runs back into hiding. couldn't take overwatch shots etc. it seemed to be 2 things you need to beat him, first having the armor/health to be able to survive the 10-12 dmg sword attack, or second, dumb luck that the assassin started the attack far enough away that they couldn't escape afterwards.

I'll spoiler this hot tip, but it's important for fighting the assassin.

Spoiler:

Battle Scanner utility items and whatever that specialist skill that scans the battlefield is called. Both will reveal hidden units, including the assassin.

See I have the opposite. Assassin is easy for me, HATE the Warlock. Mind Control is just the worst. Always has been.

That 2 hour mission was the first time I fought the Warlock. If it weren't for a few clutch resists and towards the end, some very helpful Lost, it would have been a total party wipe.

Nevin73 wrote:

The weapons you get after defeating the Chosen are very nice.

the assassin weapons are awesome, i've been running a fully promoted assault build ranger with the rage armor and assassin weapons that just straight up murders everything.

Does anyone have any tips on how to avoid triggering multiple hidden enemy patrols at once?

XCOM 2 growing into one of my favorite games ever, and the Chosen expansion has fixed almost every complaint I had with the base game. But the one thing that continues to frustrate me is that every single time I'm in a fight and attempt to position a far-right or far-left unit for what I think will be a clever flanking maneuver, I end up triggering a second enemy patrol. And suddenly what was a manageable encounter becomes TWICE as hard!

Even after playing a hundred hours of this game, I still can't seem to avoid this happening. I'm playing Ironman on Recruit difficulty and most of the time the game feels too easy EXCEPT when I tip off two patrols at once - then the difficulty feels just right. But if I try to play on Veteran, when that second patrol jumps in I get wiped out. I think the only way I could handle Veteran difficulty was if I turned off Ironman and reloaded anytime I accidentally triggered a second patrol, but I don't want to play that way.

How does everyone else deal with this? Do you keep your squads closer grouped than I do and ignore wide flanking opportunities to lower the risk of this happening? Do you try to draw enemies towards you once a fight begins so that you are always fighting on familiar, fully explored ground? Do you use battle scanners or a shadowed reaper or some other trick to make sure you know where nearby patrols are at all times? Do you emergency evac if a second patrol shows up? Or is this something that happens regularly to everyone and if I were a better player I should be able to handle two patrols at once?

Grenn wrote:
Budo wrote:
Certis wrote:
sortimat wrote:

i found the assassin by far the hardest. The other two were relatively easy. The issue for me was that the assassin runs out of hiding, kills someone, and runs back into hiding. couldn't take overwatch shots etc. it seemed to be 2 things you need to beat him, first having the armor/health to be able to survive the 10-12 dmg sword attack, or second, dumb luck that the assassin started the attack far enough away that they couldn't escape afterwards.

I'll spoiler this hot tip, but it's important for fighting the assassin.

Spoiler:

Battle Scanner utility items and whatever that specialist skill that scans the battlefield is called. Both will reveal hidden units, including the assassin.

See I have the opposite. Assassin is easy for me, HATE the Warlock. Mind Control is just the worst. Always has been.

That 2 hour mission was the first time I fought the Warlock. If it weren't for a few clutch resists and towards the end, some very helpful Lost, it would have been a total party wipe.

maybe i just didn't meet the warlock early enough. the exploding psi zombies hit me a coupe times, but any time he approached close enough to mind control i was able to just light him up.

i think the key there is to let him come to you. he'll stay at his spawn point and throw a couple sets of psi zombies at you, after that he'll come straight at you and you can be more ready for him.

Beckett wrote:

Does anyone have any tips on how to avoid triggering multiple hidden enemy patrols at once?

XCOM 2 growing into one of my favorite games ever, and the Chosen expansion has fixed almost every complaint I had with the base game. But the one thing that continues to frustrate me is that every single time I'm in a fight and attempt to position a far-right or far-left unit for what I think will be a clever flanking maneuver, I end up triggering a second enemy patrol. And suddenly what was a manageable encounter becomes TWICE as hard!

Even after playing a hundred hours of this game, I still can't seem to avoid this happening. I'm playing Ironman on Recruit difficulty and most of the time the game feels too easy EXCEPT when I tip off two patrols at once - then the difficulty feels just right. But if I try to play on Veteran, when that second patrol jumps in I get wiped out. I think the only way I could handle Veteran difficulty was if I turned off Ironman and reloaded anytime I accidentally triggered a second patrol, but I don't want to play that way.

How does everyone else deal with this? Do you keep your squads closer grouped than I do and ignore wide flanking opportunities to lower the risk of this happening? Do you try to draw enemies towards you once a fight begins so that you are always fighting on familiar, fully explored ground? Do you use battle scanners or a shadowed reaper or some other trick to make sure you know where nearby patrols are at all times? Do you emergency evac if a second patrol shows up? Or is this something that happens regularly to everyone and if I were a better player I should be able to handle two patrols at once?

i noticed patrols grouped much closer in this expansion than in vanilla, it was a real problem for me at the beginning. one mission i was fighting a pod and accidentally triggered 2 patrols and the berserker queen (needless to say that didn't end well).

i made use of the shadowed reapers a bunch. i also went with the old standby of pushing a ranger with high dodge way out to let them trigger the patrols and then pull them back to my main group who was in cover and ready for the fight.

Budo wrote:

I'm early in the game right now, so please forgive my ignorance, but I have a question regarding bonds. I know you can only form one bond at a time between a pair of soldiers, but if two people have been described as eligible for a bond, do you have to accept it, or can you hold out for another potential pairing?

I made a really good Gordon Freeman, and apparently he is eligible for a bond with a random, but my Alyx Vance just showed up, and I want to make that pair happen.

you have to specifically bond them, so you can wait it out.

I'm curious, how do you get additional faction units? I still only have the original 3 faction folks, I was under the impression you could recruit more, but I cannot figure out how. I thought maybe once I defeated the nemesis Chosen for that faction the option would unlock, but after finally completing the assassin stronghold mission I still don't see how to get more Reapers.

EriktheRed wrote:

I'm curious, how do you get additional faction units? I still only have the original 3 faction folks, I was under the impression you could recruit more, but I cannot figure out how. I thought maybe once I defeated the nemesis Chosen for that faction the option would unlock, but after finally completing the assassin stronghold mission I still don't see how to get more Reapers.

you do it in the resistance ring, can't remember what the mission was called, something generic like "recruit reapers" or "recruit more support". i've only had it pop for the reapers, hasn't shown up for the other 2.

Yeah, there are covert missions that give you additional faction soldiers.

b12n11w00t wrote:

I don't know how you would possibly face the the chosen on the harder difficulties. Just on normal mode they're proving to be pretty challenging and their levels are just sheer endurance. That said, finally got through all of them and am now in the back half of the game.

I finally defeated the assassin yesterday and totally agree. Great fight. Not sure I have the chops to beat it on anything higher than Normal difficulty. (A me problem, not a game problem.) Looking forward to getting the research done on the assassin weapons and putting them to good use!

those unique chosen weapons are just THE BEST.

Finally got leveled up to discover the assassin's stronghold. Going to send in my squad to their death.

Picking away at XCOM following an eventful weekend. Just unlocked the assassin's stronghold. Which is good because she just...

Spoiler:

Failed her assault on the Avenger. My team crushed her and then destroyed the cannons.

Bluescreen rounds appeared to work on the cannons and truck. The truck can be remote started for massive damage.

I lost one trooper clearing the map. There were two sectopod groups and I could only clear out one of them completely before my trooper was killed.

So, it's not just going into her home and wrecking up the place; it's revenge!

Just trying to get to this point before she figured out where the Avenger is. Tense.

I had my first major upset last night.

So I've played the base game for just over 50 hours, and muscle memory has kicked in. Move, '2' (overwatch) 'space' (confirm), rinse and repeat. 2, space, 2 space. My squaddies weren't in the best positions. But it was ok! I was hidden!

'2'...space...Onto my Templar, '2' he pulls out a pistol, 'space' he lets loose on a Viper 10 squares away. I won't give a full account of the curses that left my mouth, but damn that extra skill putting overwatch's hotkey on number 3 instead of 2! I got slaughtered!

I'm playing ironman mode, and I'm pretty adamant about not save scumming but I alt+F4d that and was very lucky to get put back to just before that moment.

(Other than that, Templars are freakin' great!)

I play Ironman mode and will alt-f4 in that situation as well. If I miss clicked, I'm more than willing to chat the system. If I just make a stupid move, well tough luck.

I finally got the assassin's weapons on my Ranger and holy crap that's satisfying as hell. I also have her in the King Viper suit so she's got the grapple for mobility to get her into places then just goes to town with the enemy. Absolute murder train!

Can't wait to get my hands on the other gear.

A_Unicycle wrote:

I had my first major upset last night.

So I've played the base game for just over 50 hours, and muscle memory has kicked in. Move, '2' (overwatch) 'space' (confirm), rinse and repeat. 2, space, 2 space. My squaddies weren't in the best positions. But it was ok! I was hidden!

'2'...space...Onto my Templar, '2' he pulls out a pistol, 'space' he lets loose on a Viper 10 squares away. I won't give a full account of the curses that left my mouth, but damn that extra skill putting overwatch's hotkey on number 3 instead of 2! I got slaughtered!

I'm playing ironman mode, and I'm pretty adamant about not save scumming but I alt+F4d that and was very lucky to get put back to just before that moment.

(Other than that, Templars are freakin' great!)

i've done that at least 3-4 times in my current playthrough, stuff like that is why i don't run in ironman mode.

Loving the new expansion. But man, there are way too many events happening at the same time. I can't even scan a thing for more than 10 seconds before something new pops up. I think its a bit much.

Tkyl wrote:

I play Ironman mode and will alt-f4 in that situation as well. If I miss clicked, I'm more than willing to chat the system. If I just make a stupid move, well tough luck.

Not to mention, misclicking is really easy to do. Sometimes I swear the selection changes even when I'm holding the mouse still. Maybe some quirk with elevation?

I'm yet to let that get me into too much trouble, but I had occasionally 'naded a squadie due to it.

Balthezor wrote:

Loving the new expansion. But man, there are way too many events happening at the same time. I can't even scan a thing for more than 10 seconds before something new pops up. I think its a bit much.

It's supposed to be like that. I'm almost done with the third Chosen, so I have a lot less simultaneous things going on, and it's still a little like that. Way more alerts in WOTC. Way more than you can collect. You choose the ones that are important to your situation or strategy.

I haven't let a Dark Event alert pass yet, but that's probably largely because I'm playing on Veteran and I'm more or less kicking Advent butt. Even with playing on Veteran and little save-load action (only save-scumming the worst outcomes), that Infirmary came online just in time or I'd be losing a lot more troops.

Almost this entire expansion is an amazing upgrade over the base game. I haven't even touched the Alien Rulers, though having the Archon King show up in Avenger Defense missions was pretty tough. Not tough enough that I needed save-scumming just to survive, but enough so that I was glad to have Colonels.

PS: A little heads up for Reaper usage, fellow Commanders. I didn't understand Silent Killer, and the blurb isn't very helpful. Basically, once you have Silent Killer, kill shots have a 0% chance of revealing the Reaper. This means that once any Reaper hits Lieutenant, Silent Killer allows them to contribute to combat as a finisher attack without ever revealing themselves throughout the mission.

Turians and the Palaven Update now ready for WOTC.

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Assassin Sword + Reaper w/ Blademaster makes a massive force of devastation to anything lower than Shield bearers.

A cool skill combo? The auto Hunker Down from ranger + Aim from Sharpshooter. Anytime you end in cover you hunker down which confers +20 aim to your next attack.

Early on but man, I think I was overly gimme gimme with the inspirations|breakthroughs (I don't have the proper label commit to memory yet for which of the two). Getting the resistance network up and running (expanding) asap seems to be a thing you still don't want to neglect even if you rush the resistance ring as your first building. I like how that gives you some overall game flexibility though.

Also, as mentioned, the geoscape choices to cherry pick from go crazy after that first haven defense type mission that (roll for exact type) happens after the first run-in with the chosen. Mission discovery and juggling multiple in-the-field infiltration teams didn't bother me in LW2, but having to scrutinize and pick now is really in your face (in a good way) with all that's happening on the map and tough choices on what to pass over. 'Time gentlemen, please!'