X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

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Lassr
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by Lassr »

coopasonic wrote:Green man has a coupon that works on this through 7/19, 2017E318OFF will get it for $29.51.
Thanks, went ahead and ordered it for that price.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

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coopasonic wrote:Green man has a coupon that works on this through 7/19, 2017E318OFF will get it for $29.51.
That's not bad. XCOM 2: War of the Chosen is priced at $39.99 U.S. on Steam.

Thanks for the heads-up. :handgestures-thumbup:
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by stimpy »

Greybriar wrote:
coopasonic wrote:Green man has a coupon that works on this through 7/19, 2017E318OFF will get it for $29.51.
That's not bad. XCOM 2: War of the Chosen is priced at $39.99 U.S. on Steam.

Thanks for the heads-up. :handgestures-thumbup:
Why am I thinking about buying this when I haven't even cracked open the seal on the base game yet?????
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by coopasonic »

I wouldn't be totally shocked to see it at half price in the winter sale. $40 is kind of high.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by Kraken »

I'd pay up to $30 for a whole new campaign, but not more than $10 if it just adds new elements to the base campaign. I've already beaten the boss level half a dozen times and don't want to face it again. Even just adding a new ending would sucker me in.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by GreenGoo »

Just watched a YouTube video outlining the new features of war of the chosen.

Drool.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by jztemple2 »

Been quiet about the new expansion, so I thought I'd post something. This update to their news feed sounds interesting and certainly adds a new twist to soldier management... How Soldiers in XCOM 2: War of The Chosen Form Bonds, Learn New Skills
Ever since we announced XCOM 2: War of The Chosen, people have been fascinated by the introduction of Soldier Bonds. With the upcoming expansion, you’ll see soldiers bond in the heat of battle and if they make it out alive, come out stronger – and closer than before. That’s saying nothing of how soldiers can now develop additional abilities.

HOW SOLDIERS BOND
Each soldier has a compatibility level with each other, the higher the compatibility, the more likely they are to bond while on missions together. But there are also incidents that can occur, mid-mission which can boost a soldier’s compatibility. Whether one solider rescues an unconscious squaddie from the battlefield or if more than half the squad is lost, the survivors bond. In watershed moments like these, two soldiers’ compatibility will shoot up.

When two soldiers are ready to bond, you will see them on the Avenger getting a drink together, practicing at the range as pals and more. Once two soldiers have bonded, neither soldier can bond with anyone else unless their bondmate dies…til death do us part. If a soldier’s bondmate dies, the survivor might not take it well and fly off in a berserk rage and suffer penalties. But they will recover and eventually be able to bond again.



Besides personalizing your in-game experience, there are some inherent benefits to sending bonded soldiers on a mission together

SOLDIER BOND LEVEL I


Teamwork: Grant an additional action point to a bondmate.

SOLDIER BOND LEVEL II

Spotter: This soldier is granted a bonus to aim when their bondmate has attacked or been attacked by the soldier's target. An extra bonus is granted if the bondmate is adjacent.

Stand By Me: When this soldier ends a move adjacent to their bondmate, the other soldier will be automatically cleansed of any negative mental effects.

Covert Operators: When deployed on a Covert Action together, the duration is reduced by one day.

SOLDIER BOND LEVEL III

Advanced Teamwork: Grant an additional action point to a bondmate.

Dual Strike: A combined standard shot attack by the soldier and their bondmate.

NEEDING SOME R&R

Whether or not your soldiers are bonded, though, they will need to rest. The more missions you send a soldier on without a break will start to take a toll. Exhaustion and stress, as well as bad encounters in the field, could lower a soldier’s Will and develop negative traits. This can include a fear of certain types of enemies. For example, after a fight against Mutons that ended poorly, the soldier might panic when they see Mutons again. It could lead a soldier to constantly reload a weapon on their second action, a nervous tick, instead of listening to your orders. These negative traits can be cured by setting a soldier to heal in the infirmary.

Needing to rotate your squad makeup between missions does come with a couple benefits as well: You’ll have to make some interesting choices while selecting who deploys. The other notable perk is that your entire roster will benefit from being more evenly-powered.

NEW SOLDIER ABILITY POINTS
The Training Center – replacing the Advanced Warfare Center from the base game – is an essential facility that XCOM can build. Not only is the Training Center there to enhance soldier bonds in War of the Chosen, but this is where you’ll spend Ability Points earned in combat to buy additional skills and abilities for the regular XCOM troops.

According to Senior Producer Garth DeAngelis, the design team wanted to offer a new way of soldier leveling with War of the Chosen. “Since XCOM: Enemy Unknown, progression has been a binary choice: Which of these two skills do I want,” says Garth. “This was an opportunity to allow more meaning to squad capacity overall. Will I dump most of my Ability Points into a promising hybrid XCOM recruit through the Training Center, or save those points for a balanced approach across multiple units? The AP system is also far more comprehensive by being a direct result of smart decisions by the player.” You earn AP by pulling off maneuvers like flanking and taking shots from height. Gaining a resource from intelligent combat play gives progression an entirely new feel.

This also allows the player to execute on a non-linear approach to spec’ing out Faction Heroes, since the tree now offers more than two choices at once. You can rush for the later abilities, or go for breadth and grab a number of low-cost abilities, up front.

This also impacts the original XCOM soldier classes. Take the Specialist, for example. With Ability Points, you can select previously passed-on abilities from either the Battle Medic or Combat Hacker skill paths. Or, you can opt for a third path made up of abilities from the other XCOM soldier classes. The assortment of available abilities is random for every individual soldier. Only a few of these abilities show up for each soldier.

Essentially, every soldier class gets more powerful in XCOM 2: War of the Chosen and we want you to have more of them in your ranks. And then, of course, are the even-more-powerful Faction Heroes joining the cause.

The Chosen are going to be in for one hell of a fight.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by jztemple2 »

And some more new stuff, DETAILS: XCOM 2: War of the Chosen’s Covert Actions and a Whole New Strategy Layer
The new Factions in XCOM 2: War of The Chosen aren’t just single heroic units you use in battle, they are part of a larger organized force. You’ll work with each of the Factions, perform Covert Actions and use Resistance Orders to improve your odds of success. It’s a whole new addition that resonates in both the tactical and the strategic layer and will shake up your decisions on each playthrough. And it was inspired, in part, by collectible card games.

Today, we’ll explain how it all ties together into the larger Geoscape in XCOM 2: War of the Chosen’s expanded campaign...
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by Newcastle »

Good stuff, looking forward to getting it. Will be curious to see the change in teh strategic layer. Hopefully the mods work straight away....ie i have timed missions turned off, because i dont like being rushed.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by Kraken »

Hard to imagine that this is going to be better than Long War, but...oh, who am I kidding? I'm in. As soon as you early adopters work out the bugs.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by NickAragua »

Well, now you can get that reaper guy that lets the timer not tick down until you leave stealth.

That being said, I generally prefer "soft" time limits, rather than hard ones, e.g. increasingly tough reinforcements or mortar attacks or something.

In any case, it looks like they took a bunch of ideas from the various mods and ran with them. Free game design! I'm definitely looking forward to playing through this again now.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by coopasonic »

NickAragua wrote:Well, now you can get that reaper guy that lets the timer not tick down until you leave stealth.

That being said, I generally prefer "soft" time limits, rather than hard ones, e.g. increasingly tough reinforcements or mortar attacks or something.

In any case, it looks like they took a bunch of ideas from the various mods and ran with them. Free game design! I'm definitely looking forward to playing through this again now.
There is also a new game option to double mission timers.

ChristopherOdd (and presumably other YouTubers) is doing a playthrough with the expansion. I have watched through the first three missions and I like what I am seeing so far.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by Freyland »

You can Pre-order from Greenmangaming this week for $30. Probably the lowest price we will see for awhile, so I bit. Not sure if I will play right away, with so many other offerings this month on top of my extensive backlog, but I really enjoyed Xcom 2 a great deal.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

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:ninja:
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

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Sectoid wrote::ninja:
Honestly, you are hardly a threat anymore. You waste too much time raising zombies that just die when you die... usually when my ranger runs in and cuts you in two.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

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coopasonic wrote:
NickAragua wrote:Well, now you can get that reaper guy that lets the timer not tick down until you leave stealth.

That being said, I generally prefer "soft" time limits, rather than hard ones, e.g. increasingly tough reinforcements or mortar attacks or something.

In any case, it looks like they took a bunch of ideas from the various mods and ran with them. Free game design! I'm definitely looking forward to playing through this again now.
There is also a new game option to double mission timers.

ChristopherOdd (and presumably other YouTubers) is doing a playthrough with the expansion. I have watched through the first three missions and I like what I am seeing so far.
I like what I am seeing, the covert missions add a ton of depth, and as much as I thought I would hate the zombies, it looks like they are pretty cool element. But, really, the same story line as before, just with more stuff??? Seems like they could have added a new story as well... But oh well..
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by GreenGoo »

Please check out Xcom 2 propaganda tool on steam.

Haven't had a chance yet, myself.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by coopasonic »

GreenGoo wrote:Please check out Xcom 2 propaganda tool on steam.

Haven't had a chance yet, myself.
I played around with it last night and watched the youtuber use it in game. It is kind of cool, but it's just a toy. You pick the soldiers, the poses, the arrangement, the background, the colors, filters, text, etc. and you end up with a picture. The fun thing is that your posters show up in the game world in missions.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by GreenGoo »

It is totally just a toy. It's pure marketing for the upcoming expansion. But it's genius marketing.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

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it would be more genius marketing if 30% of my soldiers didn't show up lacking legs. I have to open the editor and reassign the legs and then they are fine.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by Freyland »

Apparently the Commander requested more "boots on the ground", and someone took him literally.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

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coopasonic wrote:it would be more genius marketing if 30% of my soldiers didn't show up lacking legs. I have to open the editor and reassign the legs and then they are fine.
Fair enough. It's genius in the boardroom, less so on implementation.

edit: Holy crap it's 3 gigs. That seems excessive.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by KDH »

... In case you're interested

:violence-instagib: ... Image

TotalBiscuit has an early thoughts video ... He tries to avoid spoilers

he discusses:
some mechanic changes (fatigue)
game option changes (dbl timers, dbl HP, .. etc)
bonding (tat-bros)
.
Ain't nobody got time for that
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by coopasonic »

GreenGoo wrote:
coopasonic wrote:it would be more genius marketing if 30% of my soldiers didn't show up lacking legs. I have to open the editor and reassign the legs and then they are fine.
Fair enough. It's genius in the boardroom, less so on implementation.

edit: Holy crap it's 3 gigs. That seems excessive.
I'm guessing it's a stripped down XCOM2 build and they were too lazy to optimize the package.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by jztemple2 »

I watched the ChristopherOdd video of the starting War of the Chosen gameplay. Have to say that I appreciate the use of a bit more professional YouTube narration that avoids a lot of the usual adolescent language and behavior. Also, I liked that the presenter didn't waste valuable screen real estate with showing himself via a web cam. That gets old in a few seconds.

I like the soldier bonding, that adds a nice element to preparing strike teams. However, for me that whole business of creating posters is going to get old quick, so I hope they didn't spend too much development time on it. I also like the new pathing target preview, showing you which targets would be visible if you moved to the highlighted square. I also watched part of the second video of the series, set in a tunnel. A new map for me and it adds some new tactical challenges. And there were some new elements like the ability points that were cool. I stopped about a third of the way through, I didn't want to get too many spoilers.

I am somewhat disappointed that ultimately it's the same XCOM2 story line, I was hoping for something different, but I guess that has to wait till XCOM3. I did see enough in the new content that makes me think I'm going to get it after all, but I'm going to be out of town for most of September, so I'm going to wait till I come back home. In the meantime I'll be looking for a lot of OO impressions.

Has anyone considered started a new War of the Chosen thread? Or will we expect that most folks to just only be playing the new expansion?
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by Kraken »

jztemple2 wrote: Has anyone considered started a new War of the Chosen thread? Or will we expect that most folks to just only be playing the new expansion?
We had a Long War thread, and we ought to have a Chosen thread too IMO.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by MonkeyFinger »

Kraken wrote:
jztemple2 wrote: Has anyone considered started a new War of the Chosen thread? Or will we expect that most folks to just only be playing the new expansion?
We had a Long War thread, and we ought to have a Chosen thread too IMO.
And... done! Thanks JZ. :D
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by Lassr »

Discovered the Necromancer class MOD. That is a fun class to add, I highly recommend it.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by Blackhawk »

So, I think that in the near future, I'm going to try and pull my head out of my stubborn (yeah, I know) and give this another try. This time I'm going to try and have some direction as I go in, rather than figuring it out as I go.

Two questions:

1. Is this advice still valid?

2. Are there any 'ease of use' mods that are must-haves? I'm not looking for things that rewrite the campaign, just things that ease the headaches. I believe I used a timer increaser and a camera mod last time.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by coopasonic »

Blackhawk wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 10:52 am 1. Is this advice still valid?

2. Are there any 'ease of use' mods that are must-haves? I'm not looking for things that rewrite the campaign, just things that ease the headaches. I believe I used a timer increaser and a camera mod last time.
1. Yes, all still valid. War of the Chosen replaces the Stealth Ranger with the Reaper, but every thing else is correct.

2. This is about the only game on earth I play modded... and looking at what I have installed (I haven't paid attention in a while) I am making the game a decent bit easier for myself. Sorry GreenGoo, I didn't realize how big a cheater I am. :D

Many of them are to make the game play faster, others are for ease of use and a few are just cool. WOTC flawless gives you pretty bonus rewards for flawless missions (nobody injured). Fair Lost Targeting and Peek from Concealment also change the gameplay in your favor. Gotcha Again tries to let you know where you will trigger a scouted pod, but it doesn't work very well. :P

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[WotC] Expanded Callsigns and Nicknames
Chosen Dark Events Fix
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[WOTC] Ability Interaction Fixes
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X2WOTCCommunityHighlander
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[WotC] Peek From Concealment UI Fix
[WOTC] Peek From Concealment
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WotC: robojumper's Squad Select
[WOTC] New Promotion Screen by Default
[WotC] Gotcha Again

Oh and if you couldn't tell, these mods are made for War of the Chosen, not the base game. Most of them have base game version also.

And finally, don't be ashamed to switch the difficulty to rookie if the game is pissing you off. As we've talked about before, going in blind is much harder.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by Blackhawk »

Yeah, I don't have WOTC, and I'm years past being prideful about difficulty levels. I'm in for the experience, not to prove something to some God of Gaming that will know if I'm on easy.

I'll look into those, thanks.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by GreenGoo »

coopasonic wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 1:14 pm
1. Yes, all still valid. War of the Chosen replaces the Stealth Ranger with the Reaper, but every thing else is correct.
Yep. Short answer is that the advice at that page is still valid. As with Coop, I made exactly 1 stealth ranger in all my WotC games, in my first game, then never again. There is no need. Part of me prefers to go in fully visible anyway. The advice about trying to sneak past 1 pod while stealthed and then getting sandwiched between 2 then revealed is hilariously true. I'm fairly sure the ai cheats when you're in close proximity and stealthed, which all but guarantees pulling multiple pods when revealed, if you try to sneak past one.

I deleted the mods that Coop uses that I don't use, and this is what's left. I do have a few more to add, but they'll have to wait.
coopasonic wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 1:14 pm Stop Wasting My Time - WotC
Blackmarket Usage
Overwatch All/Others WotC
Instant Avenger Menus - WotC
[WOTC] Faster Reload Animations
[WotC] Gotcha Again
Most if not all of these mods have an Xcom 2 vanilla version. Same name, no WotC.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by Blackhawk »

I'm getting ready to make another attempt at XCOM 2. Last time I went in expecting a tactical game, and playing it like a tactical game (as I did XCOM EW/EU), and became utterly frustrated. This time I'm approaching it as a puzzle game.

From another thread a couple of months ago:
coopasonic wrote: Tue Mar 19, 2019 3:28 pm I've beaten XCOM2 on every difficulty and on the N-1 difficulty on Ironman. I don't find any part of XCOM2 frustrating. I see each combat situation as a puzzle to be solved and have spent enough effort solving these puzzles and honing my toolbox that I can generally get it right on the first try, making Ironman possible. The puzzle, to be clear, is how to kill every revealed enemy on the turn it is revealed without risking revealing any more enemies. I have spent literally hundreds of hours getting to this point and have enjoyed almost every minute of those hundreds of hours
So, my question: How do you achieve the underlined part?
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by dbt1949 »

Don't advance anymore than you need to. When you do advance don't advance everybody. Kind of leapfrogging.
Another method I use is to advance one scout until you locate something. Then advance the rest to take care of it trying not to see anymore than that one bad guy.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by GreenGoo »

It's not really a puzzle game, but as with most tactical games, the tactical rules are specific and limited, meaning you have to play within the game's ruleset. Sometimes that ruleset is large and accommodating, sometimes it's narrow and unforgiving. Xcom is closer to the second than the first.

If you turn timers off, you can play as slow and calmly as you like. The puzzle that coop is talking about is managing the aggro system. Instead of trying to explain it, it helps to watch someone else do it. Almost any playthrough on impossible/ironman will be a good teacher. When I have time I'll see if I can find one where the player is willing to explain as he goes, but that might not be until tomorrow. Coop might have a favourite youtuber he can mention.

It's been too long for me to give you any tips off the top of my head, aside from avoiding moving too far each turn, getting too spread out and/or sprinting at the end of your turn. The ai has patrol patterns designed to screw you over in terms of alerting, so even when you think you're safe, you'll very likely be discovered on the next turn. I have seen some obvious AI cheating regarding this, so stealth is only a so-so strategy on the higher difficulty levels. By the end of my play, I found stealth to be more limiting than helpful. As Coop points out, your goal is to kill everything on the turn it alerts. Stealth only helps with the first encounter. It's kind of a crutch, since you have to do the same thing with later encounters without it anyway.
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by Blackhawk »

Thanks. I found last time that it is a game that is very dependent on playing to the mechanics rather than the mechanics supporting playing to a chosen strategy. The problem is that you only really grasp those mechanics after you've played it a lot. So, keep the squad together. Advance a little at a time. Is that to maintain overwatch?
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by GreenGoo »

No, advancing a little at a time is to manage your alerting enemies. Keeping the team together is, again, so you don't alert more than 1 "pod" of enemies at a time. The enemies are grouped, and alerting 1 in a group alerts everyone in the group, but does not alert a different group nearby in the fog of war. This is the "puzzle" part, sort of. I highly recommend a number of mods, none of which I can remember right now. One of them highlights your visual range. Anything you can see can see you. It's essentially the alert range. Knowing how far it is is incredibly helpful. I doubt I could play ironman without it any more. It's not really cheating, as you are equipped with the info, you just have to manually count the squares to make sure you know what you can see what can see you every time, and that is a HUGE pain in the ass. The mod does it for you.

You should not be moving into new territory at the end of your turn so you don't alert new enemies while your team is out of action points. Alerting them gives them an entire turn to move while you're passive. Not good.

A good player doesn't even need overwatch because they will have found and killed everything in range on their move, and because an enemy patrol that alerts on the enemy turn almost always runs for cover and does nothing else. I was amazed when I started to learn the system that you could leave soldiers out of cover and not in overwatch when you get good enough, because you know they are safe. I'd say that part is a bit gamey but it's because of how the alert system/patrols work. Doesn't feel very tactical, I admit, but that's how the game systems are designed.

I'll try to remember to find you a video and name the mods I used tomorrow. 95% of my mods are either cosmetic or quality of life mods. Maybe 100%. I don't like changing the base game of any game I play, usually.
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coopasonic
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by coopasonic »

I learned most of what I know from ChristopherOdd, but I think Ronar is more educational (and knows the mechanics of the game better). The problem with Ronar is his voice. If his voice doesn't drive you away, then he does a pretty good job of explaining his decision making. Odd's voice isn't grating, but his pace of play is much slower which grates on me in a similar way.

On the topic of mods, absolutely no mods are necessary, but I generally have a bunch installed. Primarily ones that speed things up in the interface.

These are all Quality of Life and Bug Fixes:
Faster Challenge Score Messages
[WotC] Mod Config Menu
Stop Wasting My Time - WotC
Blackmarket Usage
Overwatch All/Others WotC
No Reveal Cinematics
WOTC Nice Mission Debriefing
[WotC] Expanded Callsigns and Nicknames
Chosen Dark Events Fix
Instant Avenger Menus - WotC
[WOTC] Faster Reload Animations
[WOTC] Ability Interaction Fixes
Enhanced action camera
[WOTC] Cinematic Rapid Fire (and other abilities)
X2WOTCCommunityHighlander
[WotC] Peek From Concealment UI Fix
[WOTC] Peek From Concealment
Missing Packages Fix + Resource
Insider Knowledge Fix
[WOTC] Detailed Soldier Lists
WotC: robojumper's Squad Select
[WOTC] New Promotion Screen by Default

These change the game, generally making it easier in minor ways:
[WOTC] Fair Lost Targeting <- by default Lost will prioritize XCOM over any other targets. This removes that priority. It's still a die roll, but a more balanced die roll.
WOTC Flawless <- by default there is no reward for Flawless missions, this gives rewards for that. The rewards are small but since most of my missions are flawless they definitely add up and have an impact on the strategic layer.
Resistance Weapon Upgrades WotC <- When you upgrade weapons so does the resistance. Share and share alike!
[WotC] Gotcha Again <- When you can see an enemy it *should* be easy to tell when you would alert them. This helps with that.
-Coop
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GreenGoo
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by GreenGoo »

Ronar is the guy I watched. His voice is offputting, in that he has a bit of a lisp and is a bit high pitched and warbly. That said, the main problem I have with him is that he is a bit immature. Listening to him interact with his stream followers is a bit like listening in to middle school kids, except he's clearly in his 20's. There are far worse personalities out there though, so as far as that goes, it's not the end of the universe. I tried watching his playlist until the end but I eventually petered out. That said, I watched him play for hours, and as coop points out, he's good at the game and relatively good at explaining what he's doing and why. Watching him play upped my own game about a thousand fold.

[WOTC] Gotcha Again is the mod I was talking about regarding visual/alert range. I doubt I could play the game without it now. I don't use all the mods coop listed, but I use quite a few of them. I've added Halo and Star Wars helmets and armor, just for variety. Things like that.

The Lost target Xcom at about 70% if I remember correctly, so the mod coop is talking about changes it to 50% I think. In my first playthrough of Xcom 2 the Lost were challenging. After watching Ronar, my second playthrough the Lost were an non-issue.
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Blackhawk
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Re: X-Com 2 confirmed...trailer

Post by Blackhawk »

See, somehow I'm missing how you can attack them before they even have a chance to respond. Normally, as soon as I have the chance to try and shoot the enemy, they jump to a cutscene and run to cover. Apparently I'm doing that wrong. I'll look into the videos.

I don't have WotC, just the base game. I do have a few of those installed, though, and I will read up on the others.
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