The Firaxis XCOM Series

I really hope it was the bald councilman that gave you your special missions and your grades at the end of the month. Like the council decided to hand XCOM to the aliens as a peace offering. I'd like to think Vahlen wouldn't stab her species in the back, willingly or otherwise.

That could be jossed already as he welcomes you back at the end of the announcement trailer ....and i always thought he was more a liaison than an actual council member.

and besides i don't want to get on Optimus prime's bad side...

edited 30th Jun '15 4:17:08 AM by TwilightFalchion

I just found out something that may interest those few of us who still are skeptical about Advent being villainous due to the trailers not giving any overt evidence or hints of any evil plans for humanity. Seems like we missed out on something that preceded the actual trailers and which all but spelled out that Advent is lying to humanity.

Well this reminds me of something.... Syndicate and it's upcoming Spiritual Successor, currently in Early Acess (one of the polished examples of it) Satellite Reign

edited 30th Jun '15 5:10:39 AM by YoKab

A REAL Battle Scanner exists. It came out in 2012, same year as XCOM EU's launch...

Does the Long War mod completely change all the game's files or is it something that can be switched on and off? Still working on my first Enemy Within play through but I'm dying to see a light of the mod, don't want to fuck up my game and saves to boot it up and run a mission or two.

Also, getting some weird results with the random training. Do I want my squadsight sniper to bother with her unwanted grenadier skill or just write it up as a loss and use a SCOPE?

You can't toggle between long war and vanilla without uninstalling the mod.

Training roulette is pretty much a crap shoot. Sometimes you just get useless skills. But grenadier also works with ghost grenades if you use that so it's not a total loss.

edited 2nd Jul '15 5:17:50 AM by nightwyrm_zero

Wait, can you copy all of the game's files and put them somewhere else, then install the mod on that second version?

I somehow doubt Steam will be too happy about that, but it's probably simple enough to test.

Errr, actual thats what I do.

Just rename the folders to switch between the two.

Huh, neat. I didn't think about toggling the folder names. Nice DRM work-around.

I might try that.

Anyway, it's August and I just now got the alien dungeon built. Yay! Researched everything available, have 3rd level MECs, heavy armor, etc. So I can finally continue with the story. Probably way too late to ever capture a sectoid though.

Anyway...Egypt can fuck itself and take the continent with it. I miss two little UFOs and they whine and cry and withdraw. Have fun with the aliens in this non-canon happy ending!

Completely forgot that the elerium generators existed, not sure if I should replace my existing ones. Also, not sure what to do with my base, I have every country but one with a satellite, my gene lab and one research not doing anything until I capture an alien, and five workshops including the cyber lab and foundry. Basically, I'm just waiting for the story stuff to unlock.

edited 3rd Jul '15 11:44:27 PM by Rotpar

I'd object to happy ending being non-canon, but nowadays I don't remember what canon means any longer

Well, the canon ending for the sequel is that we basically lose without ever putting up a fight

Oh my God, tactical webbing may be the greatest thing EVER. My dudes can HAVE MORE FUN TOYS?!

edited 3rd Jul '15 11:46:51 PM by Rotpar

Technically, they described XCOM 2 as an alternate timeline.

^Thats why I don't get what people mean with word canon anymore :P I have entertained thought of two different sequels to same game that both continue from different ending, I don't really see this as any different situation

XCOM2 will let me avenge all those I/Is that went badly. And it shall be delicious, like a cold desert.

edited 4th Jul '15 9:09:47 AM by KuroiTsubasaTenshi

Ahh, alternate timeline? That's disappointing. I liked the idea that we sucked and failed.

Eh, there was some discontent about players' victories turning ash, so that's probably why they made that decision.

Well, about ready to hit the Temple Ship in Enemy Within, so that means it's LONG WAR TIME.

DEATH TO THE FALSE EMPEROR!

Ooops, wrong long war. Anyway, any tips or strategy I should be aware of? So far I'm not a huge fan of the ticking clock that meld canisters adds to many missions, it feels too much like a game mechanic rather than something that makes sense in-universe.

Also...second wave options or ironman for my first LW session? The main reason I haven't done ironman yet is that too many things annoy me with the interface. Stuff like being unable to land flying units where I want, tell if a position is within firing range/cover of a target, things like that.

edited 10th Jul '15 5:48:19 PM by Rotpar

The wiki's own advice on meld is not to worry about it too much at first. Plenty of time to get it later when your squad can more comfortably go for them.

Also, they say not to Ironman just to be safe. You know, mod...bugs happen.

edited 10th Jul '15 6:27:59 PM by VutherA

Ok, how the fuck am I supposed to play this when my first battle consists of roughly a dozen sectoids at once? My rookies suck and can't hit the three I started with and a turn later like eight more join the fight.

EDIT:

I pulled it off, surprised that the enemy actually reacts and enters combat instead of standing around waiting for me to aggro them. It was also a bitch of a map, one of the broken highways for a terror or rescue mission—cover was spaced out and the enemy had the low ground, so I couldn't see them or actually fire down.

edited 11th Jul '15 2:19:25 AM by Rotpar

Long war is lots harder, but also has much more in the way of tactical options. ;) Not so much with initial rookie ops, I guess.. "Blow cover up" is about the only solid tactical move for those. HE grenades are excellent for exposing enemies.

edited 11th Jul '15 4:43:53 AM by Izeinsummer

Rember though that in long war explosive damage is no longer fixed...

But it is not random either.

It is determined by distance from the epicenter of the blast.

Jesus Christ, is there an option to throw away the worthless guns and just charge with swords? My entire squad can't hit a single sectoid. I can't flank it because his buddies are on overwatch, I can't risk aggroing another pack, and their attacks will hit.

Seriously, I'm going to get shot trying to get into melee range—the only range assault rifles are effective at in this universe—and they're scrawny little shits, gimme a fireaxe and I'll get The Shining on their asses.

edited 11th Jul '15 11:55:15 AM by Rotpar