X-Com: Enemy Unknown

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Kraken
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by Kraken »

Dammit, you've got me hankering to play this again. As much as I enjoy the process of getting there, I just don't think I can face the endgame rails and boss level for a fourth time.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by GreenGoo »

Yep, it's a fun ride to get there though.

So I grabbed a sectoid and a floater. Was hoping for a Chrysalid but I had set up and choke point and everyone's guns were pointed into it. I couldn't risk them getting too close before I wounded them, so I couldn't risk not having some of my guys on overwatch while the others miss.

Was fun to destroy 5 Chrysalids before they could even approach my team though. Was a bad setup for a ranged fight, but a great one for shooting fish in a barrel.

Finally got 6 sets of carapace. Not great, but should keep my guys alive for at least one hit again, even a muton crit (well, I think it was a light plasma rifle, so thin men crits too).

Taking down a Cyberdisk without rockets or heat ammo hasn't been too bad so far, but luckily I haven't pulled 1/2 the map at once in a long time.

I only have 12 scientists (but 40 engineers). I might have to start to care soon, as even with research credits things are taking a week or more to research, and that's just the small stuff, not the power supplies or that kind of stuff. Plasma weapons are a whole month of research.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by Fitzy »

Geez. I didn't realize capturing was a legitimate strategy.

I think I got too caught up in the story. It never occurred to me the scientist and engineer might be unreliable narrators.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by GreenGoo »

Fitzy wrote:Geez. I didn't realize capturing was a legitimate strategy.

I think I got too caught up in the story. It never occurred to me the scientist and engineer might be unreliable narrators.
Well not exactly. The scientist wants shiny things to examine. When you blow that stuff up, she is like "blowing stuff up means I can't research them, which means we get behind on tech, and don't have enough parts to make anything that we do research, so you might want to stop blowing stuff up". Which is a totally reasonable thing to say if you're a scientist responsible to getting Xcom in a more even stance with the Aliens, technologically.

What people are saying here is that there are enough shiny bits even when you heavily use explosives, and your soldiers are the most valuable and important resource you have anyway, so it's worth blowing up shiny bits if it means your soldiers are more likely to live.

While it's sorta/kinda true that the narration might lead you to sub-optimal play, it's also true that if beginners follow the advice of the narration, they will do well enough anyway (aside from being punished by the Xcom world, which everyone suffers from at times no matter their playstyle).
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by GreenGoo »

So I just realized that I might lose at the end of this month, and there isn't anything I can do about it currently. I'm not 100% sure because I don't recall what happens in this situation. Can anyone guess what I've done to screw myself over?

I'll let you guys know when the month ends whether I'm still up and running or if the game ends.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by NickAragua »

I'm going to guess you don't have enough satellite coverage and a bunch of countries are going to leave the council, pushing the global panic level past "red level".

The other way to actually lose the game (as opposed to realizing that you can't win) only happens in "Enemy Within", so you should be safe from that.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by coopasonic »

He started building a Satellite Nexus that will be done the day after the council meeting.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by GreenGoo »

Ok, neither of those. Just for fun I'll leave it hanging until after the month ends tonight.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by GreenGoo »

I lost the country that my base is in, Japan. Apparently they don't care though, and are still letting me stay rent free.

Met my first berzerker. I guess I didn't treat him with enough respec, since he tore down all my cover and my entire team is exposed. Already lost a Maj. Sniper, which is a massive blow. Looks like I killed a squaddie heavy when the AOE of another heavy's rocket was bigger than illustrated. And no, he doesn't have the aoe increasing perk. He's also just a squaddie.

Game locked up at that point (I'm serious, wasn't trying to save the turn or anything) and the GUI disappeared. Game stopped responding to short cuts, there was no cursor, couldn't get to a menu, so I killed the process. About to load it up again and take stock.

Getting torn apart here.

Edit: Well, I feared a wipe, but as it turns out I only lost the Sniper (which was the worse of the two snipers I had, but still good). High level support was 1 turn from bleeding out when I finished off the last aliens. I even got myself a live Muton, although it took 3 80% chance stuns to knock him out. He hit my assault at point blank range but didn't crit, so I got him the next turn. I actually had 2 soldiers at point blank range with him when my turn ended (due to the first 2 80% chances failing). Both lived.

Everyone is in the infirmary though. For the rest of the month. Some of these squaddies had better step up to the plate.

Despite pulling almost everyone's asses out of the fire, tactically that couldn't have gone worse. Door breach led to 2 mutons and a berzerker, and 2 sectoids. Absolutely no cover around the door except for the building wall, which the berzerker tore down. A tactical retreat around the corner of the building resulted in another wall being torn down and a grenade to our faces. My squad was now in an alley, and 2 patrols (one included a cyberdisk) activate in the opposite building, 1 turn after the other, trapping me between cyberdisk (then thin men) on one side, and Mutons (berzerker died by this point) on the other. 3 of my guys were flanked for 2 rounds.

Awful, awful stuff. But faced with the same map, I will probably do the exact same thing. It should have been a decent door breach, instead it went to hell when the 'zerker ate the wall. Gotta keep that in mind for next time.

edit2: Oh, I see the Mutons have graduated from lights to regular plasma rifles. Well, at least they won't hit as often, even if they hit harder. Got me an intact rifle and grenade. Yay.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by GreenGoo »

I should have mentioned that out of the 16 soldiers I have in the barracks, 6 of them are support.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by GreenGoo »

Base Assault mission is ready to go. Will probably give it a shot before month end (currently in July).

Squaddie heavy got 3 kills and no promotion. That made me sad. Got a new squaddie Sniper, and he got a few shots in, but no kills, and no promotion either. I'm starting to think that mission exp is weighted by rank and not distributed evenly. I guess that's fair, as you don't want to encourage people bringing rookies and leaving them in a corner of the map while the veteran team does all the heavy lifting. Still, 3 kills for the heavy and 2 laser sniper shots on a Cyberdisc for the sniper. Seems like they should have gotten something out of it.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by GreenGoo »

Damn. Base Assault just went south, big time. Charged (a calculated decision. Whoops) in with a senior assault to flank a floater (not much of a threat) and triggered 2 mutons, 1 berserker (now standing beside assault) and 2 drones.

I don't see how I can pull her ass out of the fire. Here goes.

edit: And I am awesome! Killed 2 floaters, CAPTURED the berserker, 1 muton on turn one, and smoked my assault giving her a defense of 65. Muton took the support sgt down to zero, bleeding out, and the 2 drones repositioned. Turn 2 assault kills last muton, second assault kills drone, last drone retreats off screen. Original assault retreats to safer ground, stabilizes downed support.

All enemies down but 1 drone (who ran away) and all mine alive (with 1 support out of the fight).

On top of all that, I captured the damn berserker. Someone owes me a coke.

edit: lead assault got chewed up pretty bad by another zerker. 10 points right in the face. Ouch. Squaddie (soon to be corporal) heavy is also hurting. That's going to make the capture of the base commander more tricky than it might have been.

edit2: Heavy squaddie down and out. Grenaded. This was his third mission and had something like 6 kills and only just got promoted. It's getting harder to raise new recruits.
Last edited by GreenGoo on Sat Oct 10, 2015 4:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by TheMix »

Thanks for the write-ups, GG.

My game was pretty close to finishing, but I took a vacation break. I might wrap it up this weekend. Not sure.

I need to try out the gene mods. Especially the mimetic skin. I did some reading up on it, but never got there. I do love my two MECs (heavy base). My one regret is taking the flame thrower on one. I've found the melee punch to be WAAAAAYYYYY more fun (and generally useful).

Of course, my game did involve a significant amount of quick saves and reloads. This is only my 2nd play. And first of Enemy Within.

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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by GreenGoo »

Yep, this is just the vanilla Enemy Unknown, so the game plays out quite a bit differently with different options.

When I'm playing like this I tend to just use the thread to blog stuff, and if people want to read it cool, and if not, no worries. I don't want to clog up the thread though, so maybe next time I'll start my own thread and leave this one full of useful info and treat the new one as an AAR.

I actually thought the Muton hadn't seen the heavy, so I was hoping he would just run past, but that didn't happen, and now the heavy is dead and my senior sniper is injured. I only brought 1 medikit for some reason. :(
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by GreenGoo »

Hah! Looks like a wipe. I can't believe it actually.

My assault with full health got mind controlled. Not surprised, not too worried, there is no one else near him.

Lots of maneuvering around, trying to flank the base commander. My assault dude has a long circuitous route to my guys, so no problem. But. And this is a huge fucking but. I thought the commander couldn't do anything but move while mind controlling, so I'm plinking away at him with pistols with my senior sniper and squaddie sniper. Commander blasts senior in the face. Dead. Mind controlled assault returns to defend commander's flank against my injured assault, and makes an incredible shot at distance with a laser shotgun across high cover. Down goes my other assault.

So what we've got left is a mind controlled assault, and a squaddie sniper, who is out of cover and in full panic mode. He has elevation but that's it.

Unreal. Things were still completely under control 2 turns ago. Sure I had some beat up guys, but I still had 5 useable soldiers. Now I have none.

edit: And the finale. Sectoid plinks squaddie sniper for 3 damage. Next turn, sniper recovers from panic. What's this? Mind control broken? Finish the commander off or go for broke? I'm a gambler, so I run and gun right beside the commander and single shot (instead of rapid fire) it in the face for 11 damage. 2 hp left. Sniper plinks with standard pistol at 38% chance and misses. Crap. Tension extreme as I wait to see what the commander will do. He shoots my assault in the face, which is just about the best possible outcome. Only 3 damage too.

I've got 1 chance to capture this thing. Only 1 charge left, other arc thrower wielder is out. 80% chance (I had already missed 2 80% chances in the same turn in a previous missions) and I fire. I don't recognize the animation right away so I don't know what's happening and then....down it goes!!

And it turns out my other assault was only bleeding out, so I actually make it out of the base with only 2 losses (1 my most senior sniper, a HUGE loss). I also managed to capture a live sectoid commander AND a berserker.

Would I trade my senior sniper for a successful base assault, a live berserker and a live commander? Yes. If it had been ANY OTHER soldier, the answer would have been an emphatic yes! Since it's my main, senior sniper, the answer is still yes, but less enthusiastic. On Ironman, where things can go so much worse in the blink of an eye, I'll take it. It's a win, no matter what sourpuss doctor McScientist has to say.

So I'd like to say I pulled the team out of the fire, but truth is I got unlucky and then lucky.

What a freakin' finish though. That was incredible. It doesn't get any better than that in X-com. Real edge of your seat kinda stuff.

Now excuse me while I go punch the commander in the gut a few times.

You can feel the tension leave the air as the entire world relaxes and enjoys the news of X-com's success.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by Paingod »

I almost look forward to my Ironman assault on the alien base. I postpone researching the Outsider shard until all other research is complete in order to maximize my equipment going in. You can easily have a whole squad wearing Titan Armor and wielding Plasma weapons when you walk through the door if you're willing to be patient and run a lot of extra missions to rack up Research time. Since I enjoy the combat, that never bothers me.

I'm still very in love with Mimetic Skin. It does really funky things to the AI - but allows so much more safety in missions once you fully grasp how to use it. For example, I recently used a cloaked Assault soldier to start a fight by capturing an alien. :D I had everyone else positioned just right in case it went south and wanted to add another Plasma Pistol to my locker. A Mimetic sniper had found the group and I moved the Assault in using blind spots until he was parked next to the alien pod. The poor Sectoid never knew what got him.

As for funky AI - if they can't spot you, but are getting hit, they sometimes move like they haven't been triggered but still come at you. A Muton pod was spotted, and one was sniped. I wanted to get a capture in place and dawdled for a couple turns to set it up. At the beginning of my turn the Mutons had vanished from their hiding spots (where no one but the cloaked Assault could see them). The Mutons ran at my group from the other side of the map during their next turn. Strange behavior.

When this Ironman playthrough is done and I've managed to get 100% of the Steam Achievements (2 to go - Continental Fellow & Classic Ironman) I'm planning to get Long War running and love the hell out of that for a while. I really can't wait to see hidden stats like movement and have more equipment to work with... not to mention being able to fight and take back lost territories.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by GreenGoo »

I started a new game just for the hell of it (haven't abandoned my other one) and turned on long war (not the mod long war, marathon, I think it's called) in the second wave options. Things move so slowly that I'm not sure how you'd keep everyone in the council.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

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Paingod wrote: I'm still very in love with Mimetic Skin.
Speaking of Mimetic Skin; what are the rules for when it activates and stays activated or un-activates? Sometimes I think I can run unseen and then it turns off and and I am exposed.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by Paingod »

GreenGoo wrote:I started a new game just for the hell of it (haven't abandoned my other one) and turned on long war (not the mod long war, marathon, I think it's called) in the second wave options. Things move so slowly that I'm not sure how you'd keep everyone in the council.
You really can't. I've never done better than losing 1 in the first month and maybe 2 in the second month. In my current game I worked my ass off to keep countries in the project, and still lost 5 before I had full satellite coverage. You just can't build Workshops, Relays, and Satellites fast enough to stop a few countries from leaving. My game became more about saving a couple territory bonuses instead of the world.
Lassr wrote:
Paingod wrote: I'm still very in love with Mimetic Skin.
Speaking of Mimetic Skin; what are the rules for when it activates and stays activated or un-activates? Sometimes I think I can run unseen and then it turns off and and I am exposed.
I had a hard time with it too, and had to read a wiki and experiment with it to actually grasp it. It's a very unusual tool in this game and doesn't fit the logical flow of everything else. Until I studied it and played with it, I had written it off as random and potentially hazardous. Now it's a staple of my "safe" game. The last time I went into the final mission, I took along 5 Mimetic Skin soldiers (three with Mind Control) and a MEC. It was a cakewalk.

I prefer to only make one or two soldiers Mimetic early on and save my Meld for later, after the Psionic testing. I avoid dressing them up with a host of Gene Mods since I don't know if they're Psionic yet. I choose my Mimetic Soldier based mostly on movement - meaning a Support with natural high movement and Sprinter is an excellent start. Assaults with naturally high movement are also solid choices since they can Run & Gun and Rapid Fire. I stress movement because you really need to open up a lot of high cover options and retreat paths to make the spotter useful and safe. The spotter doesn't do much fighting and may finish something off. Mostly they open up combat to Snipers and make enemies waste time running into an ambush.

Mimetic soldiers are naturals as Covert Operatives for EXALT missions. You run them in and park in visible range of the objective to give Snipers a safe line of sight - or better yet - if there's high cover inside the objective, you just park them right in the zone and they prevent the hack without being exposed to retaliation. Since you lose if they die, and they're invisible and can't be attacked, the missions are simplified.

Mimetic scouts work very well to grab Meld, too - since Meld is high cover, they can run safely to get it and likely run safely back. Even if it's not safe to run back, they don't get attacked unless they expose themselves. If you run past two or three pods, you can selectively start fights with them using your Snipers and deal with them one at a time.

Note: A Psionic Mimetic soldier with Mind Control is frightening. Using Mind Control de-cloaks you, but you can re-cloak the next turn and safely shadow your victim.

The basics are...
  1. For the Mimetic soldier to go cloaked, they cannot be seen by any aliens. I think every alien has the same sight range as your soldiers, so as long as you've selected that soldier and he has no "visible" targets they have the option of cloaking when they move. Remember, though, that a cloaked Seeker can still see you - and you don't know if it can or not. That could cause some problems cloaking if they're around.
  2. Moving your soldier to high cover triggers Mimetic Skin. You cloak when you begin your movement, so you don't trigger alien pods and can run your full range in one swift sprint. If your soldier never moves, they never cloak.
  3. Until you get very familiar with the mechanics, I'd recommend only taking your first move into unknown space - leaving the second action to retreat if the cloak didn't trigger like you thought it would. That limits the initial usefulness, but also limits your liability.
  4. For Mimetic Skin to activate, the soldier must be moving to high cover. Snipers with Low Profile (the Major-level skill) can cloak while moving to low cover.
  5. Mimetic Skin does not work with Ghost Grenades or Ghost Armor - but you still get the movement and defense bonuses from Ghost Armor and it's still a good choice to extend the soldier's movement range and open up more high cover options.
  6. It doesn't matter if your soldier is moving to a flanked high cover position, as long as it's high cover. You can move to an exposed wall or cliff side as long as it's got high cover on one side.
  7. If any time the cover your soldier is using is destroyed, they instantly de-cloak. Be careful of using rockets and grenades, and of enemies using them.
  8. As long as your soldier does nothing and doesn't move, they'll remain cloaked. This is where the "End Turn" or "Hunker Down" buttons come in handy - though a Hunkered cloaked soldier can't spot for Snipers anymore.
  9. If your soldier takes any action while cloaked, they instantly de-cloak. This includes auto-triggered abilities like Close Combat Specialist and Overwatch fire. It also includes throwing any kind of grenade or using any item, like a Medkit. I can't specifically recall if reloading de-cloaks a soldier, but I seem to remember it doesn't.
  10. If your cloaked soldier moves to a new spot while your soldier can see an alien, they instantly de-cloak, as noted above in #1.
  11. To counter the above, move somewhere out of visual range of aliens as your first move and then back into high cover as the second. You'll re-cloak.
  12. If you start a fight using a Squad Sighted Sniper or other "off screen" attack, aliens will move towards the attacker - often taking one move and then Overwatching.
  13. The skill mentions that only aliens with special abilities can see your soldiers. I've yet to figure out who those aliens are as it's worked against everything. Aliens with AoE attacks, like Sectopods, can still be dangerous as they like to just rain fire down in areas where they think someone is... otherwise I've had an Assault parked 4 squares from Sectopod in total safety and waiting to make the kill shot while spotting it for grenades and rockets.
  14. Mimetic Skin really pulls back the veil on the AI and you see them moving in pods and acting oddly because they're not engaged in combat. Starting a fight and waiting too long to show yourself to the aliens can result in them teleporting around the map like they would if they were still in pod-mode.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by gbasden »

I've been enjoying my latest Classic playthrough, but I decided to scrap it and retry the Long War mod. I am totally falling in love with it. I really like the balance changes and design thought. Not having to immediately satellite rush, the increased focus on the air war, the way they implemented fatigue, being able to designate officers - it's all a breath of fresh air. I'm not sure I could go back to the base game at this point.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

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gbasden wrote:I'm not sure I could go back to the base game at this point.
That's why I've been delaying it until I get the Achievements done. I assume you can't get them in a modded game (not historically, anyway) and am just 2 away from 100% - the only time I've tried to do it deliberately in a game. I'm hoping they'll be done when I finish this Classic/Ironman playthrough based out of South America. If South America doesn't do it, I'll need to try a quick run through North America in Normal or something.

It's still a good game, too... just better with Long War. I really look forward to having so many classes and options, as well as the ability to recapture lost areas and do more than one base assault.

I have the same feelings about other games. I've been wanting to play Assassin's Creed, Black Flag for a while because it's been called a great game. Then something else comes along and does the same thing differently but a little better (I can't recall the title right now). I'd like to get through Black Flag before I have the experience ruined by trying to hold it up to a better game.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by Witch-King of Angmar »

gbasden wrote:I've been enjoying my latest Classic playthrough, but I decided to scrap it and retry the Long War mod. I am totally falling in love with it. I really like the balance changes and design thought. Not having to immediately satellite rush, the increased focus on the air war, the way they implemented fatigue, being able to designate officers - it's all a breath of fresh air. I'm not sure I could go back to the base game at this point.
Long war is amazing and a must play for any xcom fan. I am 200 hrs into a liberation campaign, I fought to retake Africa and lost 2/3 again the next month because they spammed terror missions :P Operation Africa will pull through!! Barracks sitting at around 100 soldiers, most of whom I've found nice memorable names for so I know them all and the things they've done :D
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by gbasden »

Witch-King of Angmar wrote:
gbasden wrote:I've been enjoying my latest Classic playthrough, but I decided to scrap it and retry the Long War mod. I am totally falling in love with it. I really like the balance changes and design thought. Not having to immediately satellite rush, the increased focus on the air war, the way they implemented fatigue, being able to designate officers - it's all a breath of fresh air. I'm not sure I could go back to the base game at this point.
Long war is amazing and a must play for any xcom fan. I am 200 hrs into a liberation campaign, I fought to retake Africa and lost 2/3 again the next month because they spammed terror missions :P Operation Africa will pull through!! Barracks sitting at around 100 soldiers, most of whom I've found nice memorable names for so I know them all and the things they've done :D
I'd love to hear about any tricks or tips you might share. In my trial game, I started off with researching Xenobiology to hopefully get corpse requests for scientists, then have made a beeline to laser weapons and the laser cannon for the aircraft. I still only have one satellite up in the beginning of the third month, although I am in the process of building another uplink. I'm still trying to get a feel for squad composition and new tactics.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by Buatha »

I've been enjoying this LP for Long War and it has been helpful with some squad composition and tactics as he explains his thought processes. He gets into some pretty hairy situations, but manages to pull through (I'm up to Episode 14).

Long War Let's Play
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by GreenGoo »

Just pointing out that in Unknown 3 power generators adjacent to each other generate more power than 1 thermal generator, for less cost. Offers more granularity too, which helps at the beginning when you have trouble saving up 200 bucks all at once.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by Reemul »

Just started playing this, trying the Long war mod, did the first battle, there was 10 aliens and 6 of me, 4 died before I killed them all.

Is the mod going to be too difficult as a first play through?
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by Paingod »

Reemul wrote:Is the mod going to be too difficult as a first play through?
If you've never played the vanilla game, I imagine it's going to be punishing - but it's still playable. You've simply engaged "Impossible Plus" difficulty as your first playthrough. The learning curve and losses will be steep.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by coopasonic »

What he is saying is that your first game will be short.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by Reemul »

OK restarted using a few second wave options as recommended to make the game slightly easier.

It seems much better but does anyone have any advice on where to go re improving the base and what to focus on at the start.

this time I did the first mission and lost zero soldiers, hooray just 2 injuries
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by coopasonic »

More money requires more satellites which requires more satellite relays which requires more engineers which requires more workshops which requires more power... You are also going to need planes to cover where those satellites are deployed which requires more money and... and... and... so many priorities.
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NickAragua
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by NickAragua »

Yeah, satellites and satellite control facilities are quite important.

You also want to start capturing live aliens ASAP, both for the free plasma guns and the drastic research time reduction.

In tactical, use explosives liberally. If you go on a mission and the city block isn't in ruins and on fire by the time it ends, you're not doing it right. While it might be obvious to target groups of aliens, another great use of grenades/rockets is to blow up alien cover, leaving the alien standing there in the open.

Try to stay away from unexploded cars and gas pumps, as they tend to blow up.

Advance slowly and methodically and always end your turn in cover (high cover preferably). If you spot a group of aliens, consider having your guy run back to his starting location so that the rest of your guys can engage the aliens from a strong position.

If you're investing in keeping interceptors on a continent, try to have two. One might get damaged intercepting a UFO, so you want a backup in case two UFOs come knocking.

Keeping global panic down is a losing game until you get good satellite coverage across the world. It's ok to lose a sponsor country, especially in South America or Europe.

Build the Officer Candidate School as soon as you can, then buy the squad size upgrades. The increased amount of firepower is tremendously valuable, making it so that your squad can absorb minor losses and KOs without having to scrub the mission.

Selling alien corpses and such is ok in a pinch, but you need some for research and manufacturing of certain items. Selling alloys and elerium is an absolute no-no. Keep that stuff in stock unless you're in dire need of money, because a) EXALT can hack your bank accounts and b) Sponsor countries will occasionally come by and offer a whole bunch of money or other goodies in exchange for alien corpses or whatever, way more than you'd make just selling them. What can I say, people put weird stuff in their sushi sometimes.
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Buatha
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by Buatha »

I won't kid you, the mod is hard. With that said, I don't know if I could go back to Vanilla which I never even got close to finishing, which obviously, puts me at somewhat of a disadvantage. The only upside is that going back to Vanilla feels like going back to junior high after college. Plus, it's nice starting with equipment that makes me feel like a covert military unit instead of having to research the simplest things in Vanilla.

I think I only selected Cinematic Mode and Dynamic War for the not-so-Long War, but it's been okay except for a few "learning" encounters on what not to do, which I did save scum (i.e. running way too far into a UFO room and activating 2 Outsiders with no one adequately positioned. Upon reload, I realized the proper approach (grenades and shotgun to the face) and was successful, but the UFO components were toast. The previous attempt killed my entire team, so yeah, you might want to reload unless you know the game inside out...which I don't.

Additionally, that video series I linked earlier has been helpful.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by GreenGoo »

In my current (vanilla) game I have 19 weapon fragments and over 500 elerium and 500 alloy.

The point is: Don't sell weapon fragments either.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by Paingod »

NickAragua wrote:Selling alloys and elerium is an absolute no-no.
With Marathon (Second Wave) on, I tend to make more selling Alloys and Elerium each month than I do from the council.

There's not much you can make early on with these things, and they're just money in the bank. In the first month I maybe keep 75 Alloy and and 50 Elerium on hand and ditch the rest. In the second month I maybe keep 150/75. In the third month I maybe keep 200/100. It takes forever to get to building Firestorms, so I tend to have enough saved up by the time I need it and the thing I'm waiting on are power plants and nav systems (which I never ever sell).

Liberal use of explosives only starts to be a problem in weapons research when I get to researching Plasma Rifles and Heavy Plasma.

Again, though, this is all with Marathon on and everything takes longer to accomplish.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by Reemul »

NickAragua wrote:Yeah, satellites and satellite control facilities are quite important.

You also want to start capturing live aliens ASAP, both for the free plasma guns and the drastic research time reduction.

In tactical, use explosives liberally. If you go on a mission and the city block isn't in ruins and on fire by the time it ends, you're not doing it right. While it might be obvious to target groups of aliens, another great use of grenades/rockets is to blow up alien cover, leaving the alien standing there in the open.

Try to stay away from unexploded cars and gas pumps, as they tend to blow up.

Advance slowly and methodically and always end your turn in cover (high cover preferably). If you spot a group of aliens, consider having your guy run back to his starting location so that the rest of your guys can engage the aliens from a strong position.

If you're investing in keeping interceptors on a continent, try to have two. One might get damaged intercepting a UFO, so you want a backup in case two UFOs come knocking.

Keeping global panic down is a losing game until you get good satellite coverage across the world. It's ok to lose a sponsor country, especially in South America or Europe.

Build the Officer Candidate School as soon as you can, then buy the squad size upgrades. The increased amount of firepower is tremendously valuable, making it so that your squad can absorb minor losses and KOs without having to scrub the mission.

Selling alien corpses and such is ok in a pinch, but you need some for research and manufacturing of certain items. Selling alloys and elerium is an absolute no-no. Keep that stuff in stock unless you're in dire need of money, because a) EXALT can hack your bank accounts and b) Sponsor countries will occasionally come by and offer a whole bunch of money or other goodies in exchange for alien corpses or whatever, way more than you'd make just selling them. What can I say, people put weird stuff in their sushi sometimes.
Thanks for all of this, I shall follow the advice :)
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by NickAragua »

Paingod wrote:
NickAragua wrote:Selling alloys and elerium is an absolute no-no.
With Marathon (Second Wave) on, I tend to make more selling Alloys and Elerium each month than I do from the council.

There's not much you can make early on with these things, and they're just money in the bank. In the first month I maybe keep 75 Alloy and and 50 Elerium on hand and ditch the rest. In the second month I maybe keep 150/75. In the third month I maybe keep 200/100. It takes forever to get to building Firestorms, so I tend to have enough saved up by the time I need it and the thing I'm waiting on are power plants and nav systems (which I never ever sell).
Don't get me wrong, I will, without reservation, sell alloys/elerium if I need the cash for better guns/armor or a quick satellite/related facility - after all, I can always get more alien loot by shooting down UFOs. I just prefer to keep the stuff warehoused, because you can lose money via EXALT hacks, but you can't lose stuff out of your warehouse.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by GreenGoo »

Don't stand beside Thin men when they die. This might seem self explanatory, but I still forget sometimes.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by Paingod »

GreenGoo wrote:Don't stand beside Thin men when they die. This might seem self explanatory, but I still forget sometimes.
It's better when you're not prepared for it and they drop down right next to you and get killed by Overwatch fire. :hawk:
NickAragua wrote:you can lose money via EXALT hacks, but you can't lose stuff out of your warehouse.
I've always thought that if they hacked me, I was doing something wrong. I believe it takes two scans per month (in Marathon mode) to capture all of their activities. In my last game I think I got it to a point where I was scanning on the 1st and 15th of each month and getting Covert Ops each time - while preventing them from attacking me.
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by Kasey Chang »

I decided to necro this topic rather than create a new one.

How to play the gray market

So, how many corpses do you need? How many weapon fragments, alloy, elerium, and UFO parts do you keep? Assuming you used up one for the initial autopsy... This little guide hopes to clear up that confusion.

NOTE: Does NOT cover Enemy Within.

Sectoid Corpses -- keep multiple of 3 for building "uplink targeting (aim)", which is an aim bonus for your interceptor. It's single use only, only affects TWO shots (thus, only useful with plasma cannon or fusion lances, and MAYBE a little with avalanche missiles)

Thin Man Corpses -- keep 4 for researching "improved medikits" in the foundry. Sell the rest.

Floater Corpses -- keep multiples of 3 for building "defense matrix (dodge)", which is a dodge bonus for your interceptor, single use only, dodges next two shots.

Chryssalid Corpses -- keep multiples of 4 for building chitin plating NOTE: Chitin plating is basically a better "nano-mesh vest" giving wearing 4 extra HP beyond that of body and armor. But it takes up the equipment slot. You should only need one or two for the front-line "tank" who expect to get hit.

Muton Corpses -- keep 6 to research "ammo conservation", sell the rest.

Drone Wreck -- keep 10 around to research drone capture, improved arc thrower, and finally, advanced flight (but also need cyberdisc wrecks and heavy floater corpses)

Berserker Corpse -- keep 1 to research combat stims

Heavy Floater Corpse --keep 6 (4 for advanced repair, 2 for advanced flight)

Sectoid Commander corpse -- just sell him

Muton Elite Corpse -- don't need to keep any

Sectopod Corpse -- keep 2 to research "advanced construction"

Ethereal Corpse -- you need these to build mind-shields

----

UFO components


UFO Flight computer -- you need 2 for alien nav computer, 2 for each satellite nexus, 3 for stealth sats, and 2 each for blaster launcher and firestorm. So never sell any, unless you got lots and lots of them.

UFO Power source -- you need 1 for research, 1 for each Firestorm, and 2 for each Elereium generator

Alien Food, Alien Entertainment, Alien Statis Tank, Alien Surgery -- can all be sold

Fusion Core -- needed to build blaster launcher

TIP: Any damaged stuff can be sold with no consequences.

TIP: To maximize haul on UFO shootdown, equip interceptor with EMP cannons.

Alien alloy, weapon fragments, and elerium? -- don't sell any unless you're near endgame and you get plenty.
My game FAQs | Playing: She Will Punish Them, Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius, The Outer Worlds
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Re: X-Com: Enemy Unknown

Post by Kasey Chang »

I admit I'm playing on easy, yet it's about as far as I've gotten in XCOM:EU. Previously, I got seduced into researching those "priority items" and basically left myself underdeveloped and underresearched to face the threat.

RIght now, I'm at a pretty good place, I think. I got 7 satellites deployed, my net income is about to hit 970 per month, and I handled all missions so far with ZERO death (goofed up on a mission, didn't bring ANY medikits, but was able to kill all enemies before the wounded guy expired, but it was close). I am about where I should be with uplinkes and power, I think. And I got 2 Firestorms built, and I got fusion lance loaded. I did that by basically IGNORING the demand to research hyperwave decoder and instead catch up on all basic research like bodies and such for the past two months. I'm about to start on plasma weapons (so far, all combat has been done with laser and conventional weapons).

I'm doing not bad on armor research and psi either. I got to the skeleton armor (grappler hook!) and produced them for my primary squad, and I'm cycling my crew through the psi lab (3 so far, I'm getting to the rookies). I think I can hold off on archangel armor as I don't quite see a need to hover just yet.
My game FAQs | Playing: She Will Punish Them, Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius, The Outer Worlds
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