The Firaxis XCOM Series

I finished Enemy Within a few days ago. Things I have learned:

All the Meld stuff looks really cool, but you wont start raking it in until you encounter Heavy Floaters

Sectopods suck even harder

Site Recon sucks so much if it gets sprung on you while you are still in conventional gear

Save scum until Annette is something that is not a sniper

Annette sucks for everything, until you equip her with psi armor and a mind shield. Then she mind controls Ethereals 100%.

Mimetic Skin on a Covert Operative is frigging awesome

ME Cs are really cool, but need to be converted at maximum level for maximum stats.

Medals are to be hoarded and awarded to high-ranking important soldiers.

Me and my friend's collaborative webcomic: Forged Men

Annette works well as a psi-corps Low Profile + Mimetic Skin + Snapshot sniper. She'll need that precious Ghost Armor and a SCOPE to counteract her low base aim though.

The three finest things in life are to splat your enemies, drive them from their turf, and hear their lamentations as their rank falls!

Oh great, how are Sectopods worse?

That half-damage thing SUUUUCKS. Except against Rift. Also, they have absurdly high aim.

Me and my friend's collaborative webcomic: Forged Men

Yeah, taking only 50% damage really makes them tough to kill even late game. Shredder rockets or Electro pulse are a must.

Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGH!

So did I just get lucky with Annette?

• rereads the above* I'm just gonna let that sit and move on.

I got her as a support, and I kinda wish she was a sniper, cause she NEVER missed. Granted, I had that Second wave "your troops have random stats" buff going, so maybe that helped.

I'm Charlie Owens, good night and good luck. PSNID: CEOIII 1117

Major-ranked Annette for me had 75 aim. I WANTED her as a support, it would give her other stuff to do while her stuff recharges. Also, sprinter.

Me and my friend's collaborative webcomic: Forged Men

@the Librarian: Didn't I (and a few others, incidentally) already explain the changes that Sectopods underwent in Enemy Within a few pages ago?

EDIT: My last post on the subject.

edited 29th Jun '14 12:02:20 PM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

Okay. So once Sectopods start showing up I need to get a sniper with Disabling Shot.

edited 29th Jun '14 1:32:17 PM by theLibrarian

You should get one before then. Battle scanner is kinda eh anyway.

I'm Charlie Owens, good night and good luck. PSNID: CEOIII 1117

It's useful for a Snapshot sniper (who'll probably be in much closer proximity to the enemy) and it's dynamite if you turn on Training Roulette and get it on an assault or support.

Battle Scanner is v. important for not pulling more packs than you intend to.

I dunno guys, I just saved-scummed Annette's class like any sensible player. Saved before the scripted event where she jumps out of the trailer, and there you go. Kept on doing so until she rolled Support.

I didn't even know she could have a random class until much later in the game.

Me and my friend's collaborative webcomic: Forged Men

Battle Scanners are great for launching sneak attacks. Since it doesn't trigger enemy packs, a Squad Sight Sniper can get the drop on enemies who aren't in cover. Factoring in Headshot, this can push the crit chance up to 100% rather easily. Not to mention it's great for lining up rockets and reveals Seekers, meaning they can proactively dealt with.

FE: Genealogy Story Run 7PM PT Sun, Mon, Fri; Expert Unicorn Overlord 7PM PT Wed, Thurs: http://www.twitch.tv/kuroitsubasatenshi

I do most of my recon with Mimetic Skin, so I don't take Battle Scanner. Never seem to throw it far enough to make use of it anyway.

Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity.

That requires significant resource investment, though. For this reason, yes, Battle Scanner shouldn't be able to directly compete once they're both available, but since the Scanner is more easily available and much earlier, it can fill that gap (and still be viable in emergencies).

FE: Genealogy Story Run 7PM PT Sun, Mon, Fri; Expert Unicorn Overlord 7PM PT Wed, Thurs: http://www.twitch.tv/kuroitsubasatenshi

Out of curiosity, has anyone played the Long War mod?

I have.

This is a signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

That's a mod, not a Second Wave option? Is it like a super-Marathon?

But that's a story for another time.

Thoughts? I'm thinking of giving it a shot.

Huge mod. 8 classes (and 8 MEC flavours that function as proper classes), you actually have officer ranks and NCO ranks, huge ability overhaul, constant and multiple UFO missions, 6 interceptors per continent, alien groups go up to 6 members, aliens have officers and ranks... The readme claims over 700 changes, and at first I thought "Yeah, right..." but no, it really is a ton of changes.

And yes, it's meant to take much longer (also much harder).

It's supposed to be a "make the entire game feel like the pre-Alien Base portion of the game" mod. Sectoids have an innate dodge, shooting down UF Os is tougher, etc.

Thing is, I HATE that portion of the game, where you're 1 move away from a Code Black with every action. Glad it's only for PC, if Firaxis discovers this mod and puts it into XCOM 3, I am off this entire franchise.

edited 30th Jun '14 12:13:44 PM by CEOIII

I'm Charlie Owens, good night and good luck. PSNID: CEOIII 1117

I'm gonna have to check this mod after I have my fill of vanilla.

What if they add it as an optional Harder Than Hard setting, like how Second Wave is mostly "make the game even more difficult" options?

I thought you had to save before you sighted the truck, not just before you moved a soldier into the blue zone next to it.

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

I watched a stream of Long War a bit ago and they're still a bit off-kilter in terms of balance. The runner I was watching typically rocks Impossible without too much effort and he was getting through fighting the aliens just fine, but then he reached an EXALT mission. The modders swung it way too far into the difficult side. There's an arbitrary limit put on the squad (who can normally deploy in numbers larger then 6 in the mod) of 4 and the EXALT pods were all spawning with 3 operatives and an officer. They pathed in a way where the pods would often stack each other, so his very first pull turned into an 8v4 where the enemy had a Heavy. It ended about as well as it sounds.

FE: Genealogy Story Run 7PM PT Sun, Mon, Fri; Expert Unicorn Overlord 7PM PT Wed, Thurs: http://www.twitch.tv/kuroitsubasatenshi