X-Com: Enemy Unknown

[NickAragua]

Man, you guys are really making me want to break my self-imposed prohibition on buying full price game (expansions).

[Pyperkub]

Man, you guys are really making me want to break my self-imposed prohibition on buying full price game (expansions).

There was a 25% off Greenmangaming coupon that worked towards Steam which I used to get it down to ~$20...

[$iljanus]

Spoiler:

Endless chrysalids that spawn from all over the map, and you have to travel the entire length of the map there and back to complete the mission.

It was certainly a nice change from the generic council missions of EU!

Spoiler:

When it came time to pull out I started my infantry running back and just had my MECs do a short move and then shoot the closest Chrysalids. It got close a few times, but MECs are really well suited to taking out Chrysalids.

That mission made me stay up pretty late last night since it was kicking my ass and I felt no shame restarting and saving. But finally I got that perfect GET TO THE CHOPPER moment with almost everyone wounded and low on ammo. Fun times.

[hepcat]

Argh...I had forgotten how difficult it is to manage panic in classic and above. Time to go reread Panic Level Management 101.

[Sepiche]

Well, I took down the alien base last night and afterward sent some of my top troops in for Psi testing when suddenly...

Spoiler:

Base attack! Holy crap!

They did the transition perfectly too... you're just sitting watching the globe when suddenly you hear sounds like an earthquake and it starts shaking. Then it cuts into a movie and the attack begins.

Luckily I had 2 MEC Colonels fully suited up in Mk. 2 & 3 armor and particle cannons and I almost definitely would have lost without them being able to 2 shot mectoids. I also thankfully had my best support trooper and my best assault trooper, but my best heavy and sniper were in the Psi Labs.

Overall it was a hell of a battle, and it makes me a little scared to see what it'll be like on classic, although now that I know what to expect I'll have all my best guys suited up and ready to go.

The first few waves were Chrysalids, Berzerkers, and sectoids mainly and weren't much of a problem, but then came first the waves of cybertanks, and then the waves of mectiods, and finally some sectoid commanders and a sectopod. I must have killed something like 10 mectoid, but at least they generally came at me in 1s and 2s.

I also learned the hard way though that sectopods have a new ability that reduces all incoming damage, so not only are they still tough as nails, but even my MECs using particle cannons were only able to do 5 points of damage per shot. It adds up, but it takes time to take them down and they can put out crazy amounts of damage each turn. One tough little base security guy actually took 2 sectopod blasts to the face and survived thanks to a little healing from one of my MECs healing mists.

So anyway, not sure how scripted the timing is, but about 10 or 15 days after I hit the alien base was when I was attacked, so be ready!

[coopasonic]

Argh...I had forgotten how difficult it is to manage panic in classic and above. Time to go reread Panic Level Management 101.

This is why I play Normal Ironman. Yes, the game is kind of easy on Normal, but I think Ironman makes up for it. It makes the games more fun also s I spend more time playing and less time reloading (still some time smacking my forehead).

[Zurai]

Well, I took down the alien base last night and afterward sent some of my top troops in for Psi testing when suddenly...

That's interesting, it sounds like you had an entirely different troop mix in that mission than I did.

Spoiler:

It started off with some chumps dropping down in the middle area, but after that was an absolutely massive wave of fliers, with two cyberdisks, two heavy floaters, a bunch of drones, and two seekers all spawning at once. Random sectoid commanders spawned in while I was dealing with those, then I had a big wave of mutons and berserker mutons at the other end of the level, then four chrysalids, followed by a couple mechtoids with sectoid commander followers, cyberdisks, and an ethereal. I didn't get any sectopods, thank God, nor any thin men, but I did get everything else. 37 enemies in total, and I only lost one random base security guy to a muton.

[Sepiche]

Well, I took down the alien base last night and afterward sent some of my top troops in for Psi testing when suddenly...

That's interesting, it sounds like you had an entirely different troop mix in that mission than I did.

Huh yeah, that is pretty interesting.

Spoiler:

I only saw one real Muton, and only 2 or 3 berzerkers. By far the most common enemy I was facing was mectoids. I didn't see any Ethreals, but that's probably because I hadn't encountered them yet. I did have that first initial wave that dropped in, but I think they were all Sectoids and pretty easily dispatched.

I wonder if it's just random, or if it subbed in the Sectopod for the Etheral or something. Total enemy count for me was 42.

[Zurai]

Spoiler:

No, that was my first time seeing an Ethereal that game, and in fact I still havn't seen another to capture. It was a rather unpleasant surprise, but my strategy (bunkering up with massive overwatch coverage in the railings on "my" side of the mech bay, rather than going into the access tunnels after the invaders) meant that they ended up coming to me piecemeal. I'd have been in trouble if that entire last wave had come on me all at once; it had three mind controllers and I didn't have enough well-equipped veterans present to lose three and then kill three mind controllers before the end of the turn. Not sure if it's even possible to have enough to handle that when one of them is a 20-hp Ethereal.

[Sepiche]

Spoiler:

Yeah, must be that it's sort of randomized then.

In retrospect I think you had the right approach... those elevated walkways are a good spot to hold. I ended up forming a line along the wall of the command center leading into the MEC bay where they were coming from, but that got pretty crazy. The only advantage that really gave me was that I could get into melee with my MECs which helped a few times, but probably would have been easier in general holding from above.

[Butterknife]

I caved and bought the expansion. I'm really enjoying it! It has obviously been a while since I played, I'm doing Classic difficulty and not reloading (I don't actually play Ironman in case of bugs). I managed to lose my entire 4-man squad, with my only two troopers who had leveled up, on my first council mission. I thought about restarting since I was so close to the beginning, but I stuck with it and it looks like I may be able to pull things off.

I'm really liking the new additions to the game. It really is a good expansion.

[Kraken]

I'm looking forward to getting it. Since replayability is so low (once or twice through, max) I don't want to pay more than $10 for it, and I'm too busy to do much gaming til after xmas anyway.

[Pyperkub]

I got partway through the first time, but got stuck. Starting over again with Enemy Within and an idea of what I'm doing... but the meld and possibly new creatures are interesting.

Also... I never noticed this before, but I guess there's squad vs. squad multiplayer. Sounds fun... anyone interested?

[Lagom Lite]

Must... not... click... spoiler tags...

[Grifman]

I haven't played this in a while and am going back with the new expansion but I am stuck. I've got a guy on the roof but he's stuck. I can select him but if I try to move it, the game selects a lower level or height that he cannot reach. I can't get him to move on the level he's on. How do I change the height/level to the one he's on? It told me during the tutorial but I can't remember. I've googled it but nothing seems to work - he's just stuck. Thanks.

[RMC]

I haven't played this in a while and am going back with the new expansion but I am stuck. I've got a guy on the roof but he's stuck. I can select him but if I try to move it, the game selects a lower level or height that he cannot reach. I can't get him to move on the level he's on. How do I change the height/level to the one he's on? It told me during the tutorial but I can't remember. I've googled it but nothing seems to work - he's just stuck. Thanks.

My mouse wheel is what I use to raise and lower the elevation. I thought there were also buttons as well, as quick keys.

[Grifman]

I haven't played this in a while and am going back with the new expansion but I am stuck. I've got a guy on the roof but he's stuck. I can select him but if I try to move it, the game selects a lower level or height that he cannot reach. I can't get him to move on the level he's on. How do I change the height/level to the one he's on? It told me during the tutorial but I can't remember. I've googled it but nothing seems to work - he's just stuck. Thanks.

My mouse wheel is what I use to raise and lower the elevation. I thought there were also buttons as well, as quick keys.

Yeah but for some strange reason, none of that was working for me

I'll have to give it another try.

[RMC]

I haven't played this in a while and am going back with the new expansion but I am stuck. I've got a guy on the roof but he's stuck. I can select him but if I try to move it, the game selects a lower level or height that he cannot reach. I can't get him to move on the level he's on. How do I change the height/level to the one he's on? It told me during the tutorial but I can't remember. I've googled it but nothing seems to work - he's just stuck. Thanks.

My mouse wheel is what I use to raise and lower the elevation. I thought there were also buttons as well, as quick keys.

Yeah but for some strange reason, none of that was working for me

I'll have to give it another try.

I'll log in and see if I can find the quick keys...

[Butterknife]

Squad wipe number 2! Don't know if I can come back from this.

Regarding the new class in the expansion:

Spoiler:

The mec class is uber tough! I'm loving having a big tough gun do my scouting, it is very effective. My mec rapidly became my team leader, simply because he is so hard to kill.

[Sepiche]

Just finished the expansion on normal. Overall I loved the changes and I'll probably take a bit of a break and then start again on Classic or maybe with some of the second wave options on.

I also managed to get the achievement for having one guy along on every mission last game. Good old Boris Yeltsin started as just another rookie in the very first mission and ended up my most decorated MEC trooper. I did have to skip one crashed UFO mission when he was wounded, but otherwise he managed to come through unscathed.

[Butterknife]

And with squad wipe #3 I think I'll be starting over on Normal difficulty (those Council missions are ripping me apart!) My roster went from a dozen veterans to ... 1 heavily damaged MEC soldier, and all the rest are rookies. I don't think I can continue at this point, I've just lost too much of my skilled troops. Had fun losing though, I'm going to start over on Normal/Hardcore with some Second Wave options enabled.

[Greybriar]

I haven't played this in a while and am going back with the new expansion but I am stuck. I've got a guy on the roof but he's stuck. I can select him but if I try to move it, the game selects a lower level or height that he cannot reach. I can't get him to move on the level he's on. How do I change the height/level to the one he's on? It told me during the tutorial but I can't remember. I've googled it but nothing seems to work - he's just stuck. Thanks.

I had something similar happen. One of my troopers equipped with Archangel (flying) armor got suck in the elevated portion of an alien ship he had landed on. I could not get him free, so I resorted to one last desperate measure--I loaded a save game.

Sorry I can't be more helpful, but I highly recommend saving (or autosaving) every turn. I don't believe that's possible in Ironman Mode however.

[tgb]

I think Ironman auto-saves every turn.

The game definitely seems harder with the expansion. I "lost" (not technically, but gave up) the third month of my game because I had two very difficult missions come up in a row in countries that were about to bail. I got wiped out on both, and had nothing left but a bunch of rookies.

[RMC]

I think Ironman auto-saves every turn.

The game definitely seems harder with the expansion. I "lost" (not technically, but gave up) the third month of my game because I had two very difficult missions come up in a row in countries that were about to bail. I got wiped out on both, and had nothing left but a bunch of rookies.

Yeah, I am getting interceptors shot down at an alarming rate. I have had 3 shot down, and finally got the phoenix cannons built for a bunch of them. But losing the UFO's is giving me bad ratings from the council.

[Apollo]

Just finished the expansion on normal. Overall I loved the changes and I'll probably take a bit of a break and then start again on Classic or maybe with some of the second wave options on...

Wow, really? I was hoping the game would last longer. How many hours does it take to finish a typical game? I'm just now diving in and I hoped it would take a while to finish, like the original X-Com: UFO defense.

[Sepiche]

Just finished the expansion on normal. Overall I loved the changes and I'll probably take a bit of a break and then start again on Classic or maybe with some of the second wave options on...

Wow, really? I was hoping the game would last longer. How many hours does it take to finish a typical game? I'm just now diving in and I hoped it would take a while to finish, like the original X-Com: UFO defense.

It's not as long as the original by default. It's probably about 20 hours for a game if you know what to shoot for, and a little longer your first few times. There's also the second wave "Marathon" option that makes the game significantly longer.

[Chrisoc13]

Ugh. Shouldn't have played on Ironman. The only save just failed to load. That is beyond frustrating. I was around 9 hours in and all of it is gone. Just frustrating. I like Ironman for the tension it provides and because I don't trust myself to not take back a saved game but honestly that is really irritating. Guess I'll get around to starting again eventually.

[Apollo]

Just finished the expansion on normal. Overall I loved the changes and I'll probably take a bit of a break and then start again on Classic or maybe with some of the second wave options on...

Wow, really? I was hoping the game would last longer. How many hours does it take to finish a typical game? I'm just now diving in and I hoped it would take a while to finish, like the original X-Com: UFO defense.

It's not as long as the original by default. It's probably about 20 hours for a game if you know what to shoot for, and a little longer your first few times. There's also the second wave "Marathon" option that makes the game significantly longer.

Thanks. Maybe after the first time through I should try the marathon option.

[Chrisoc13]

Just finished the expansion on normal. Overall I loved the changes and I'll probably take a bit of a break and then start again on Classic or maybe with some of the second wave options on...

Wow, really? I was hoping the game would last longer. How many hours does it take to finish a typical game? I'm just now diving in and I hoped it would take a while to finish, like the original X-Com: UFO defense.

It's not as long as the original by default. It's probably about 20 hours for a game if you know what to shoot for, and a little longer your first few times. There's also the second wave "Marathon" option that makes the game significantly longer.

Thanks. Maybe after the first time through I should try the marathon option.

Last time through I played it on marathon. Just know that the balance isn't quite right if you do that. I would actually recommend against it your first time through, do it the second time if you want to etc.

[Zurai]

That's the reason I refuse to play any game on ironman. I can understand the thrill and challenge of having only one save, but as a programmer myself I don't trust any game to keep the save files 100% safe 100% of the time. I've seen corrupted save problems in pretty much every game with an ironman option.

[Chrisoc13]

Yeah not making that mistake again. All but one time I've played it on Ironman and it has never been a problem until this time. I actually had to uninstall it all from the Xbox to even get it to play again so something was corrupted. I started a new game and am through the first month again.

So far with the new expansion I really think it has improved the game. For one with the new game along with the slingshot expansion the first couple months are action packed now. Previously the first couple of months dragged a bit. I remember going 2-3 weeks sometimes with nothing happening in the game, now there are enough scripted missions in the first couple of months that it really improves the game.

The mecs are awesome. Nice addition to the game. Powerful, but expensive to make up for the power. The genetic improvements are really cool too. I find myself really doing everything I can to protect the soldiers I have dumped a ton of money and meld into. Obviously I would normally try and protect my veterens but it is especially true now that even more has been dumped into them.

The medals are a nice touch. I ignored them at first because I thought it was just surface fluff, but I really like that it gives powers to the troops. Really cool idea.

Some of the new missions and maps are really great. The canadian whale one... wow. That was unexpected. And UFOs being in the cities occasionally now is a nice touch too. Overall very happy with the expansion minus the corruption of my save.

[Kraken]

Just finished the expansion on normal. Overall I loved the changes and I'll probably take a bit of a break and then start again on Classic or maybe with some of the second wave options on...

Wow, really? I was hoping the game would last longer. How many hours does it take to finish a typical game? I'm just now diving in and I hoped it would take a while to finish, like the original X-Com: UFO defense.

It's not as long as the original by default. It's probably about 20 hours for a game if you know what to shoot for, and a little longer your first few times. There's also the second wave "Marathon" option that makes the game significantly longer.

Thanks. Maybe after the first time through I should try the marathon option.

Last time through I played it on marathon. Just know that the balance isn't quite right if you do that. I would actually recommend against it your first time through, do it the second time if you want to etc.

Yeah, the pace of missions and advancement isn't slowed down to match the scripting, so by the time you're halfway through the game your squad is fully buffed. Takes all the challenge out of the second half of the game. At least, that was true with the original game. Dunno if they rebalanced it for the expansion.

[Lassr]

started my first game last night after updating my hard drive and finally installing Windows 7.

5 missions in and I see my first stealth aliens. Killed the first ones with a rocket attack before they could move, the 2nd time I ran into them they moved and I couldn't find them until they latched onto my players. They are more of a nuisance than anything unless you only have 2 players left when you find them, then it could be a problem.

[Seppe]

Well, I took down the alien base last night and afterward sent some of my top troops in for Psi testing when suddenly...

That's interesting, it sounds like you had an entirely different troop mix in that mission than I did.

Spoiler:

It started off with some chumps dropping down in the middle area, but after that was an absolutely massive wave of fliers, with two cyberdisks, two heavy floaters, a bunch of drones, and two seekers all spawning at once. Random sectoid commanders spawned in while I was dealing with those, then I had a big wave of mutons and berserker mutons at the other end of the level, then four chrysalids, followed by a couple mechtoids with sectoid commander followers, cyberdisks, and an ethereal. I didn't get any sectopods, thank God, nor any thin men, but I did get everything else. 37 enemies in total, and I only lost one random base security guy to a muton.

I had a different mix of aliens (easier) but i had barely researched much (laser rifle, not sniper or heavy laser). When I started I had one trooper with a laser rifle, one MEC with the starting gun, and then a few rookies in security guard blue uniforms. I did have an issue where none of people who were at elevation could not target anything below them unless it was right in front of them, which made for 'interesting' play.

[Lassr]

Ha! Just had a council mission to investigate disappearances in St John's, Newfoundland. Wonder if my university is destroyed

That mission is Hell. The only soldier I've lost so far has been on that mission.

Spoiler:

Endless chrysalids that spawn from all over the map, and you have to travel the entire length of the map there and back to complete the mission.

I just got that mission this morning and holy shit!

I did not lose anyone but 5 or 6 times it came down to my last soldier with a shot left to rescue another soldier before they bought the farm. And then hauling ass back to the ship as you were being chased. Intense but fun.

[IceBear]

When I did it, I didn't bother fighting; I just ran. It seemed like the chrysalids had enough movement to make it to one of my troops, but not enough to attack in the same turn. Guess I got lucky.

[RMC]

When I did it, I didn't bother fighting; I just ran. It seemed like the chrysalids had enough movement to make it to one of my troops, but not enough to attack in the same turn. Guess I got lucky.

That's what happened to me as well, but I had two troops, and lost my SQ Assault person. <sigh> She had potential, but oh well.

I had one MEC trooper, and he was melee, so 12 points of damage with one swing saved the day.

[Lassr]

When I did it, I didn't bother fighting; I just ran. It seemed like the chrysalids had enough movement to make it to one of my troops, but not enough to attack in the same turn. Guess I got lucky.

I had 5 or 6 turns where I was holding them off while one soldier was sprinting to the ship control panel. Once he reached it, then it was all haul ass. And you are right, they would get right up to my soldiers but I could run away on my turn (except one soldier, her run length was about 5 steps shorter than the rest and she had to be rescued once). She made it to the pick up area with no time to spare.

[Angnomander]

Snipers are still my favorite. Once you get double tap, plasma sniper rifles, and squad sight it's over for the aliens. Get one guy with the stealth skin gene meld as a spotter, run him in close enough to see everything, unleash the snipers. With squad sight they can snipe all the way across the map as long as they have LOS.

As a bonus, snipers with stealth skin and the talent that makes half cover work as full cover can stay stealth pretty much anywhere.

If that's not OP enough get them the flying armor and send them up above to rain death down on the targets your stealth spotter has located. For bonus OPness give them the medals and talents that increase damage and crit if you're above the enemy.

The only use I'm getting out of the mechs is the ability that knocks down cover. It opens up LOS for the snipers. Since mechs can't get the gene meld that prevents them from getting mind controlled they're puppets as soon as they get in range of an alien psychic.

[Zurai]

I never saw any point to the stealth gene mod on snipers. The stealth is removed once you fire, and a squad sight sniper shouldn't be in range to be shot at by anything anyway.

Also, my squad sight sniper has less than half as many kills as either of my MEC troopers. On-demand 5 and 8 damage long range guaranteed hit AOE explosions are incredible for kill counts, and having a 13 damage double-tap weapon and 20 hit points with damage reduction backing it up is just gravy.

By the way, the Alien Grenade foundry project upgrades the tier 2 MEC suit grenade launcher in addition to the basic hand grenades your normal soldiers use.