XCOM 2 Catch-All

Maq wrote:

The shooting through walls and ceilings thing just me?

Nope. I have completely ceased to use tall building walls as cover. Always get shot from impossible angles, always get hit, and always have my cover destroyed during that hit. Which means my guy is now marked as uncovered, which means every alien in the joint lights him up that turn.

master0 wrote:

Lastly rangers seem weak are clearly the strongest class.

Damn, that was some typo. Must have been a typo, since any class that can recover from any bad situation through dashing all over the map and double shotting any problem enemies and then walking away with a free move AND automatically dodging the first attack against them could never be called weak.

Tamren wrote:
Tkyl wrote:

I do. When I get home, I'll type up the info.

Cool thanks! I've been testing the start location "mod" someone posted on Reddit. It doesn't seem to work though.

Any mods you download should go into ".\steamapps\common\XCOM 2\XComGame\Mods\"

Unfortunately, I'm not sure how the systems work for the starting regions. I would imagine changing those settings should work. But if it doesn't, then I don't know. I'd have to route around the source code. (If you are interested in routing around yourself, you can see the source code if you download the SDK.)

Here's a mini-tip that helped me enjoy the game a bit more:

The mouse wheel is defaulted to changing floors and "T" and "G" are used for zooming in and out.

I ended up putting zoom on my mouse wheel and changing floors to the side mouse buttons. Just felt weird having changing floors on the mouse wheel instead of zoom.

I did have one strange thing happen - on one mission two of my soldiers got hit with a poison attack from ... well, I don't know where, that's the problem. They were some way from the only combat going on at that time and it was only with regular ADVENT troopers that I've never seen use a poison attack. At the end of the mission it told me I'd taken out all the enemies but the identity of the poison attacker was never clear. Powerful DoT, too, so it could have had quite a bad outcome if it had been later in the mission after I'd already used my medkits.

Chimalli wrote:

The True Concealment mod may be for those who want additional time on the timers, but not want to out right remove them or extend them.

This mod seeks a nice middle area between outright removing the timers and extending them.
As long as your squad remains concealed, timers will not tick down.

Oh, nice! I am liking that idea!

BNice wrote:

Here's a mini-tip that helped me enjoy the game a bit more:

The mouse wheel is defaulted to changing floors and "T" and "G" are used for zooming in and out.

I ended up putting zoom on my mouse wheel and changing floors to the side mouse buttons. Just felt weird having changing floors on the mous wheel instead of zoom.

Also a great tip, thank you!

I am loving this game! I was a huge fan of the original Xcom, and probably still have the floppies around here somewhere. Many, many hours spent right after college... Ah, those days, my friend.

Sadly, I have been a 99%-console guy for a couple of years now, so this game is going to get expensive. I think I can keep it down to video card and power supply. For now. (It would seem that I miss PC gaming more than I thought I did.) It's playable on my old GTX 650 but it isn't pretty.

So much fun!

Except for the shooting through walls and ceilings bit. And yeah, I'd like to relax the timers. I know I am old and set in my ways but I don't like being rushed quite that much.

For those that are interested, though possibly averse to any Joe-random Joe-Bob's ini tweaking suggestions, Beagle of X-Com alien-splattering fame has a nice ini starter tweak guide up at PC GAMER.

Beagle covers ini tweaking

edited for geekyness: contains a nice dive into AI related changes too, which might appeal to folks even if they aren't looking to fiddle with other elements.

Boudreaux wrote:

I'm really liking the mission variety and all the new options for combat. I was afraid the mission timers were going to be a huge hurdle but I haven't had a problem with them yet. Most of the timers seem to be in the 8-12 turns range and I'm finishing most missions in 6-9 turns.

Agreed. I've even had a couple where my guys have gotten to the extract point with time to spare and have been able to level up some rookies by setting them in overwatch to take out the reinforcements before evac'ing. I'd recommend anyone just getting started at least try the default settings before grabbing one of the timer mods.

I've only had 2 issues with timers. The first was the very first mission where you have a timer. I was way too cautious at the beginning and then in trying to get finished before the timer ran down I ended up being too aggressive and stumbled onto some enemies I wasn't prepared to deal with. The second was the first VIP mission where I didn't realize that your last turn is the one where the timer is listed at 1. I thought I'd have 1 more turn to get to the extract point, or the worst that would happen is I would fail the mission and head back to base. What actually happened was all my guys showed up as 'abducted'. I restarted that one from the autosave.

Overall, though, I'm loving it. It's just as buggy with LOS stuff as the original was, but I can live with it (by not playing Ironman -- I don't mind losing guys, but I do when it's because of a mis-click or bug). But it's sucked me in like I never got sucked in with Enemy Within. I played through the original once and that was it for me. I tried to replay the campaign a few times and never got more than a few hours in. When EW came out, I had the same thing happen. For whatever reason I just couldn't get back into it, but this has hooked me completely.

Edit: One other thing -- after seeing a bunch of tweets containing complaints about getting the game to install/run, I've never been happier to be gaming on a Mac!

babakotia wrote:

I did have one strange thing happen - on one mission two of my soldiers got hit with a poison attack from ... well, I don't know where, that's the problem. They were some way from the only combat going on at that time and it was only with regular ADVENT troopers that I've never seen use a poison attack. At the end of the mission it told me I'd taken out all the enemies but the identity of the poison attacker was never clear. Powerful DoT, too, so it could have had quite a bad outcome if it had been later in the mission after I'd already used my medkits.

Was there a Dark Event active that gave all troopers Poison Rounds? Because that is a thing.

For those who want to be able to restart a mission:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...

Let me know if you have trouble getting it. This is the first mod I've posted on the Workshop.

Has anyone confirmed the lose state of the avatar project is it exactly when the 12th thing ticks up? Or is there time after that? I recall seeing an article that said yeah go ahead and let it fill up you have some wiggle room after that and if you take out a facility you reset the whole clock...

Cayne wrote:

Has anyone confirmed the lose state of the avatar project is it exactly when the 12th thing ticks up? Or is there time after that? I recall seeing an article that said yeah go ahead and let it fill up you have some wiggle room after that and if you take out a facility you reset the whole clock...

There is time afterwards. About 15-20 days. Don't remember exactly.

FInished! *cough on easy cough*

Spoiler:

aaaah! that ending tease! there is something emerging from the Deep! possibly Terror! Wobbly purple terror!

Yoyoson wrote:

I never really played the first XCOM. If I just dove straight into this one and didn't look back, what would I miss out on? My first thought: the story. Will I be missing out?

The original story is basically: you fight the aliens, and eventually you win. The details are reasonably interesting, but aren't all that important, for a very simple reason; the canon in the second game is that you lost the first one. So whatever you thought you saw didn't happen, at least if you played to a successful conclusion.

You might have a slight disadvantage in the new title, in that you won't have any experience with the existing alien types, but I understand that things have changed enough that a lack of expectation might prove to be slightly better.

master0 wrote:

Lastly rangers seem weak. Honestly better to just replace them with something else in my opinion. Hell you could probable do nothing but heavy weapons and do fine. Although snipers are still a killer class.

Really? Between their ability to retain concealment (which is super handy on timed "destroy the relay" missions and such), and the free execution attack at the end of a move, I'm finding little to dislike about the class. Though I'll grant that they're best for an aggressive play style, which doesn't suit everyone.

pyxistyx wrote:

FInished! *cough on easy cough*

Spoiler:

aaaah! that ending tease! there is something emerging from the Deep! possibly Terror! Wobbly purple terror!

:)

Spoiler:

Nice! Having to go cabin to cabin on the ship missions aside, I really liked that game. Though I don't think they nailed the creep factor as well as UFO Defense. Those early farmhouse missions at night in UFO Defense were creepy as hell. But I think Firaxis could nail the deep ocean atmosphere, so color me excited.

Also, this game really doesn't let up, does it? A few months in and still with starter weapons and I get a timed VIP escort that introduces both turrets and MECs? I wasn't sure whether to cheer or cuss. Which is pretty much what XCOM is all about :p

IUMogg wrote:

Is the game bugged in how it handles interior and exterior of buildings? Navigating in a building is clumsy and frustrating, but it's manageable. However, I was doing a VIP mission and the extraction point was on the top of a three story building. I was overwhelmed by aliens forces and decided to try to minimize my loses making a run for the extraction point. I though it would work because most of the aliens were on the lower levels of the building. I got my VIP to roof and she was killed by an alien a floor or two below her, who shot straight up through the ceiling. No windows or openings to shoot through. Very frustrating. Is this a bug or just how the game was designed?

Not just you. The glass walls/ceiling thing is ruining the game for me a little right now. It's certainly kept me from ironmanning it which is my preferred XCOM style.

Tkyl wrote:

Unfortunately, I'm not sure how the systems work for the starting regions. I would imagine changing those settings should work. But if it doesn't, then I don't know. I'd have to route around the source code. (If you are interested in routing around yourself, you can see the source code if you download the SDK.)

The code might be incomplete. It's pretty clear what it's supposed to do and it's in the INI for a reason, it just doesn't work. Someone should glance at the code and see why. Though tbh it would be better if the lines in the ini were true/false so you wouldn't have to delete them to change and revert things. I think it would also be nice if the game allowed you to pick your starting continent in non-tutorial games, you could simply start new campaigns until you get the one you want but that is tedious.

Well my reason for my poor assessment of rangers is other classes just seem to have my fire power. Snipers can mow down entire groups of aliens. Heavy weapons can level entire buildings. While specialists will destroy all robots or pick off the rest. All of this is done from a much farther range compared to rangers.

Rangers are at best situational for me. The extra stealth is nice but rarely necessary. While the sword is useful tends to get you in trouble. An extra heavy or sniper just adds more raw power. Two techs, two heavies, and two snipers. I finished multiple mission with 100% accuracy and no damage that way.

As for the whole timer thing I only had an issue with it once of twice. Didn't have issue with high floors either but I only really used snipers for that. Who tend to be out of fire range.

Tkyl wrote:

Was there a Dark Event active that gave all troopers Poison Rounds? Because that is a thing.

No, I don't believe so. I'm guessing it came from a snakeman alien.

Can I take a moment to express appreciation for the Cultural Revolution style propaganda posters on the loading screens? There's something eerily nightmarish about them that I can't quite put my finger on.

Reaper81 wrote:
Yoyoson wrote:

I never really played the first XCOM. If I just dove straight into this one and didn't look back, what would I miss out on? My first thought: the story. Will I be missing out?

No. No, you will not.

Malor wrote:
Yoyoson wrote:

I never really played the first XCOM. If I just dove straight into this one and didn't look back, what would I miss out on? My first thought: the story. Will I be missing out?

The original story is basically: you fight the aliens, and eventually you win. The details are reasonably interesting, but aren't all that important, for a very simple reason; the canon in the second game is that you lost the first one. So whatever you thought you saw didn't happen, at least if you played to a successful conclusion.

You might have a slight disadvantage in the new title, in that you won't have any experience with the existing alien types, but I understand that things have changed enough that a lack of expectation might prove to be slightly better.

Awesome. Thank you both.

I am really amazed at how balanced the different classes are I haven't even seen the psionic class or leader class in action yet because I am having a hard time choosing who to bring in the standard four classes. And the comment about having rangers as "close combat", I have killed plenty of aliens from as far away as the other 2 (not sniper), with the shotgun, the damage output of the ranger is pretty ridiculous. I was very down on the specialist at first thinking they were the worst, but I have never been so glad to be wrong. Specialist has so many support options, they have saved my squad so many times.

Maq wrote:

Can I take a moment to express appreciation for the Cultural Revolution style propaganda posters on the loading screens? There's something eerily nightmarish about them that I can't quite put my finger on.

I like that my guys show up in holographic wanted posters across some of the city maps.

While my team will shoot through walls, ceilings, vehicles and more, they won't shoot through each other. I do like how the firing animation includes a "teammate crouching" phase when they're in the line of fire. Nice touch.

I got off to a really slow start because I didn't understand the gremlin/engineer mechanic, and I am not getting ANY opportunities for more engineers. I am stuck at one and it's crippling. I am getting my ass kicked on the Avatar meter and am not hopeful for this playthrough, but I am learning things at every turn and generally having a great time!

One of my favourite moments: Taking a broken squaddie (0 will!) on a difficult mission and having him toast a couple of baddies and come back with 80 will! If you can salvage them, you are rewarded nicely!

Maq wrote:

Can I take a moment to express appreciation for the Cultural Revolution style propaganda posters on the loading screens? There's something eerily nightmarish about them that I can't quite put my finger on.

Have you noticed the "wanted" posters during missions? There are photos of your soldiers faces on vid displays in city missions.

I'm starting a shiny new campaign and I need more GWJ'ers for my squad!

Did Maq make that github repository? What's the link?

Holy smokes, anyone get the Avenger shot down and have to do the 'defend the avenger' mission yet? I've killed more aliens in this mission than I have in all the other missions to date - combined - and it's still going.

I'm tempted to believe you have to just rush through them to destroy the objective, but there's literally so many aliens that it's suicide to try. I did just get a message saying 'that's all of them' and implied that I'd killed all the original aliens... but the reinforcements keep coming. Perhaps this is the point where I need to rush to the objective.

It's kind of fun as it's a really different mission style, but dang is this hard. I'm saved in the middle of it now and have to take off for a bit, going to try to finish it off when I get back.

Teneman wrote:

Holy smokes, anyone get the Avenger shot down and have to do the 'defend the avenger' mission yet? I've killed more aliens in this mission than I have in all the other missions to date - combined - and it's still going.

I'm tempted to believe you have to just rush through them to destroy the objective, but there's literally so many aliens that it's suicide to try. I did just get a message saying 'that's all of them' and implied that I'd killed all the original aliens... but the reinforcements keep coming. Perhaps this is the point where I need to rush to the objective.

It's kind of fun as it's a really different mission style, but dang is this hard. I'm saved in the middle of it now and have to take off for a bit, going to try to finish it off when I get back.

Yes, it was one of my favorite missions so far, it was crazy hard. The only reason I one was a combination of the stealth ranger and hacking a MEC, both of which I thought weren't that good before that mission.

Okay some tips I wished I realized earlier:

  • Ctrl Right click for waypoints. Useful to avoid fire/acid
  • Wet Works skills i retroactive for kills.
  • Flashbang can interrupt mind control or revive.
  • Skullmining can get you nice side missions. Makes it possible to remove all dark events.
  • Mimic beacon is really good. Honestly might need a little nerf.
  • Fall damage works on turrets.

Any other tips?

edit: On base attack. It's possible to have it occur extremely early. Rushing out to take out the building is extremely nice. It's large enough that you can't actually miss. Really started to get swarmed on that one.

Teneman wrote:

Holy smokes, anyone get the Avenger shot down and have to do the 'defend the avenger' mission yet?

Yes! It was awesome and so hard! This mission was the one that introduced Chryssalids for me, and it was tense as hell.

I moved slowly, as my gear was really not up to the challenge. An Advanced MEC wrecked my crew, and got my Heavy incapped. My Specialist had used up all charges, but I was able to stabilize him. We proceed to advance, and through thick n thin, we eventually complete the objective. But now it's time to head back so we can leave, with incoming forces en route. The support ship drops 2 heavy MECS, a lancer and a shield bearer, and why not, that's when 3 chryssalids storm the front lines. I have 7 soldiers, injured and battered, trying to come home, moving from cover to cover. Then, Bradford says the magic words:

I'm sending in reinforcements.

Out comes one of my specialists who has haywire protocol perk, and high hack stats. I decide that if I want to make it out alive, I'm gonna have to risk it all, so she does, and boom, she hacks n controls the MEC!! The MEC draws fire as one of my Rangers picks up the heavy, puts him on his shoulders, and starts the slow crawl back home with him, while snipers, turrets and other soldiers provide cover. But we're still far away! And the lancer has decided the hacked MEC can be dealt with by his buddies, so he closes up on our heroes. The next turn, I see that dashing will only get me one tile away from home, and the ranger has 3 HP left. But he also has Bladestorm. Decisions, decisions. Screw it, we've already risked too much to bring everyone home. Drop our wounded, and be ready. Next turn, lancer dives in for me. 8 conscious soldiers and 2 turrets waiting to shoot, but nearly everyone misses. Lancer is left with 4HP and still one armor chink. He dives for our ranger, but once he entered our area of effect, he slashed his face in half!

Picked up the heavy, and carried him home. No one left behind.

This game delivers.

Just to follow-up for anyone else with an older laptop. I appreciated the game told me right away (though unfortunately after the download) I might not have the specs for it and after giving it an hour, it's clear I need better hardware. I'll look forward to coming back to it in the future.