[smg id=6630 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW start screen"]
Having finished XCOM: Enemy Unknown (2012) I will now start a new game with this DLC. It actually is a different game, starting XCOM:EU presents you with a splash screen to choose between either Enemy Within or Enemy Unknown.
The DLC is a complete overhaul of the base game available as a 7.2GB download from steam. I also saw it as a retail version sold on CD but I don't know whether you can actually install it from disc or have to download it. It is basically like EU but adds a lot of new stuff like new soldier classes, research, facilities and whatnot, and also some 70 new maps, too.
Here a special series on YT by Zemalf.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpbTkbv4L2Y&list=PLvqxe4XbcSiEzrZm28NjsLXmHkffCJmBY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpbTkbv4L2Y&list=PLvqxe4XbcSiEzrZm28NjsLXmHkffCJmBY)
Going to give it a shot now :)
Have fun with it :) I wonder if it's a complete new story, like a sequel or the same happening from a different perspective. Keep us posted :-X
It is the same story with occasional different missions and generally speaking, different goals which didn't exist in the other game. For example, now there is "Meld" -- a material needed for new upgrades and technology. You can't wait too long or it will be gone before you got it: Once you are somewhat close to it so its location is revealed, you'll have 5 turns to get it. I'm not sure but I think if you don't find the location somewhat quickly, it will self-destruct before you can get it. I hope that won't happen or at least not often :)
Here I still have got 4 turns left and it is already within easy reach..
[smg id=6631 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW meld 1"]
..and I collected both canisters.
[smg id=6632 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW meld 2"]
Cool, look forward to reading about your experiences :)
I'm right in the middle of it :-D
Apparently the amount of those Meld canisters' self-destruct turns may vary, I just had a mission during which I found a Meld canister that only had 3 turns until it blew up (or, until I had to collect it which I did).
At this point I might as well tell you about the general mission types that occur in both games:
Abduction. Varying Difficulty. Clear an area of enemies.
Terror. Varying Difficulty. Rescue as many as possible of a given amount of civilians before the aliens kill them -- or kill all aliens (best before they kill too many civilians)
Bomb Disposal. Disable power nodes and defuse a bomb before the time runs out (start with 5 turns to disable the first node and keep stacking up remaining turns by disabling nodes)
Council Missions: Usually Extraction -- (either you need to find someone or you start with someone to protect) and take him safely to the extraction point. Typically accompanied by Thin Men as your common enemy. Sometimes you get a bomb disposal mission, sometimes you need to find something like cargo but you always have to clear the map of enemies before you win.
UFO Landing (many enemies) or Crash (fewer enemies) Site. Difficulty depends on the size of the UFO. Raid the UFO and kill everything that isn't human.
Shoot down a UFO (only if you have satellites over that country and if you have a spacecraft capable of shooting down a UFO) followed by raiding the crash site. The size of the UFO and therewith the amount of enemies varies.
All of the above on a bloody vast amount of different maps. They're never big but man, the fog of war is always present.
:)
Oh, there is something else new: medals :)
[smg id=6636 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW medals"]
It was a particularly pleasant event. Quite a challenge, when the right spot on the right soldier for the medal had to be found and the decoration had to be adjusted until it would sit just right. Did take a bit, adjusting the medal. For some reason, decorating our female personnel is a sought-after honour. :-D
[smg id=6637 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW medal awarded"]
:laugh:
Oh wow.
This game is a lot more difficult than the base game. I've barely started and already encountered a new enemy called Seeker (there will be quite a few more new and bloody dangerous enemies) which constitutes a serious threat as it turns completely invisible and seeks out lone soldiers such as snipers (which I loved to leave behind to take care of enemies trying to stab in the rest of the squad's back) and materialises on top of them to strangulate them. The strangled unit is helpless and will suffer -2 health per turn until the seeker is killed and after the seeker's death the strangled soldier will have to "catch breath" that results in -75% mobility and -50% aim plus "battle fatigue" that weakens the will (may cause panic which may cause the panicking soldier to fire at his own team and panic may as well spread among nearby soldiers plus the panicking soldier can't be controlled during that turn)
The problem with those Seekers is that I have to change my strategies that worked nicely with the base game. Also, there are old enemies that can lob a grenade which they will do once they see two or more of my soldiers close to each other. Before, I avoided forming those grenade baits and now I will have to think about whether to stick two or more together against Seekers. Those buggers will keep hanging around following me and keep trying to attack exposed soldiers until I've killed them. Another apparent victim will be an Assault who used "run and gun" (enables an Assault to dash far forward and attack) and after his dash he's defenseless. So I'll have to cover him with "overwatch" (uses at least one of two turns of the overwatching soldier but puts him in a reaction state -- any enemy moving in the line of sight will be shot at, such as an approaching and decloaking Seeker)
EEEEK ???
Oh man :)
Here's one of those Seekers, just decloaking and, due to my overwatching guys, being killed. It looks a bit like a squid that floats in the air. You can see the decloaking in progress but it could not start to strangle my poor sniper (can't see her in that pic) The guy in front, a Support class, looks as if being shot through but that is only a small graphical glitch. :)
[smg id=6653 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW seeker"]
Looking over the pics you've posted, here and in the XCOM:EU topic, it looks as though you can zoom in and out considerably on the action. Is that a correct assumption, or are there different viewpoints you can switch between? Some of those pics look like tactical isometric-type look-down views, some like 3rd person ones.
you can switch on and off what is called an action-cam. When on, the camera will zoom in and behind the guy who's firing and when you choose one of your guys who can see an enemy, you'll get a "from behind and over his shoulder" view at the enemy you're targeting for him. :) Else, and when switched off, you get the isometric view.
Cool, thanks :)
OK, I experimented a little. I wanted to see whether I would get where I thought I might and just wanted time to pass quickly so I just went straight through a few missions and experienced a couple of proper catastrophes (for example, one soldier got attacked by a zombie -- a civilian poisoned by a Chryssalid -- who dealt 9 damage at once and killed that soldier just like that -- before, I never allowed that to happen so I didn't even know that zombies could deal that much damage) but in the end of that test I knew I would get where I wanted. So I reloaded the savegame and continued to play normally. Normally as in very careful. :)
Apparently the DLC improved a few things, like that base management. With enemy unknown, I repeatedly only had one single steam tile to build a special and very effective power plant. With the DLC, I got three of those tiles. Nice. Then again, the DLC also weakened a few things that used to be extremely powerful. Overall, the DLC is indeed a lot more challenging and difficult but at the time more interesting.
However. Here something new: MEC troopers :) Since the aliens have now new species and robotic units, we need to adapt and get bigger guns, too. It's really better, without the new stuff it's almost impossible to win.
[smg id=6655 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW MEC trooper"]
Whoa :o There's a person in there somewhere!
A person yes, but just the torso and the head. Exceeding limbs.. what the heck, have them amputated and replaced with metal ones :-D You just put the torso in the metal "leisure suit" or put it inside a combat MEC (Mechanised Exoskeletal Cybersuit).
Getting a new suit (MEC troopers wear those when not in battle)
[smg id=6656 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW MEC conversion 01"]
metal limbs attached..
[smg id=6657 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW MEC conversion 02"]
test walk, towards an arm for a battle MEC
[smg id=6658 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW MEC conversion 03"]
and here the cyber interface works already, see the big MEC arm does exactly what the small arm does
[smg id=6659 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW MEC conversion 04"]
Oh dear. It won't stop. Not only new and dangerous alien enemies, no, now additionally those bloody EXALT terrorists..
[smg id=6660 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW EXALT threat 01"]
[smg id=6661 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW EXALT threat 02"]
[smg id=6662 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW EXALT threat 03"]
[smg id=6663 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW EXALT threat 04"]
And now that my sniper is on a covert operation, I had to encounter a massive UFO that almost downed my first interceptor so I needed to send up a second interceptor that luckily managed, if barely, to shoot it down. So I am about to check out a massive crashed UFO without a sniper but, I'm so happy about it, not, now I can "train" a rookie instead of my valuable sniper. And I don't yet know whether or not my sniper is going to make it as a covert operative. I will have to extract her and at the time kill EXALT troops, in about a (game-) week. Of course, panic is an issue, the bloody EXALT action forced me to prolong my research time of the current project (time is what we least have) but at least they didn't steal money or increased panic levels to max (two other options EXALT have) Oh man.
??? ... :o ... :'( ... yay, I love this :D but I can't convince myself I actually do.. XCOM EU was so much easier :-D
And this here is on EASY for F's SAKE ???
Sounds massive :-X
Oh yes. :) OK, here in pictures, a 90 minutes real time operation which I finished with a massive punch :-D
[smg id=6664 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW covert op extraction 01"]
[smg id=6665 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW covert op extraction 02"]
[smg id=6666 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW covert op extraction 03"]
[smg id=6667 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW covert op extraction 04"]
[smg id=6668 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW covert op extraction 05"]
[smg id=6669 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW covert op extraction 06"]
[smg id=6670 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW covert op extraction 07"]
[smg id=6671 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW covert op extraction 08"]
It's getting kind of complex :o :-X :)
I'm glad I don't need to wear a MEC suit. I'm pleased with my own limbs heheh :-D
Nice pics! Great map! :-X :)
It looks like you've got your hands double full with this game.
Imagine if time not spent in the game was tracked giving your enemies the unchecked advantage of moving about freely to gain their objectives. It would force you to all but live in the game start to finish. :-D
Watch for that complication to be added in the next DLC version as the developers tweak up the difficulty another notch. >:D
Hehe :-D Finally a game (actually, two games, counting the DLC as a game of its own despite the fact that the base game is required) that keeps me busy and interested. It is really challenging but at the time fascinating and I have a lot of fun. :)
There was another special mission that was different from any mission I played so far. I had to check out why a fishing village in Newfoundland "went dark" -- I fought my way all across the map, and back, and it ended with an airstrike -- if you're not fast enough, either mass-spawning aliens or that airstrike will knock your block off. I managed to escape and watch the spectacle from a safe distance. :-D
[smg id=6672 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW site recon 01"]
[smg id=6673 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW site recon 02"]
Now there is yet another new thing, gene mods. Rather than chopping off limbs so the torso may fit into an exoskeleton such as a MEC trooper, we just "augment" mod a soldier's genes. Well.. nice. :-D
Edit: "augment" is reserved for soldiers that are to become a MEC trooper, they get "augmented," while any soldier except MEC troopers may have their genes "modded."
[smg id=6674 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW gene mods"]
That's some serious gaming you're doing there, AB :-X
Nice avatar :) :-X
thanks :-D
It's the icon for killed aliens you get to see on the scoreboard at the end of a mission. You can check the 2nd screenie (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?action=media;sa=media;in=6632) in the 3rd post of this topic.
8) I first thought it was an achievement, for something like "sniper accuracy during alien invasion" and I checked you achievements to see if it was listed to be able to make a smart commentary there :-D
:)
Now from level 1 (MEC-1 WARDEN) over level 2 (MEC-2 SENTINEL) the armour or metal body is fully upgraded to level 3, a so-called MEC-3 PALADIN. Getting there cost nearly all the Meld I had collected, 200 Meld. Also, a new railgun which doesn't quite fit into the pic any more, a proximity mine launcher as well as a grenade launcher is part of her outfit. Oh, and the close quarters combat steam hammer fist, the Kinetic Strike Module, is now upgraded, too. I just had to change her nickname to "Tank Girl" :-D
[smg id=6675 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW MEC trooper 02"]
Here a comparison. My unit when I started (well, after the first mission) in March 2015 in-game time
[smg id=6676 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW crew pic 01"]
And here what it looks like now, mid June 2015 (in-game time)
Hats are only for those who never missed out on any of so far 21 missions :-()
[smg id=6677 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW crew pic 02"]
I wouldn't let that girl get 'on top' :-()
Nice crew you got there, and they all, except one, wear hats ??? :-X ^-^
??? :-D @ on top -- you'd first peel her out of that MEC, I suggest. You don't eat canned tuna including the can, either, do you :-D Then again, maybe Dr. Shen had something entirely different on his mind when uttering that statement.. :-()
[smg id=6659 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW MEC conversion 04"]
Oh and by "hats" I should clarify, "fedoras" because those three members of my unit have been on every mission. The beanie of the sniper and the futuristic helmet of the MEC trooper is just not a hat :-() You can compare the last names in the two pics, by the way, to see who was there at the start, already. The sniper makes an exception: she couldn't be on all regular missions. I had sent her on a covert operation for six days against EXALT when the rest of the unit had to engage aliens without her and she was off active duty for three days while getting her gene mod, and, of course, another mission hit the rest of the unit just then. And one more mission she couldn't participate in for whatever reasons. Might as well have been while she was still on that covert mission.
In the meantime, I trained another sniper and had her gene modded with a mimetic skin that turns her invisible if at the beginning of her move no enemy sees her starting and if she ends her move in full cover. She'll stay invisible if she keeps moving like that and as long as she doesn't fire her weapon. I finished an entire mission (extracting her) without her ever becoming visible :)
[smg id=6678 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW covert op extraction 09"]
I just had an interesting mission -- check the pic in the previous post, Squaddie Maria De Graf with 3 Missions and 2 Kills.
Now, I had her on another covert operation and finished it by having her rush into the extraction zone without any kills. She got a promotion to Corporal. It occurred to me that I might have squandered an opportunity for her to get a cheap kill because all my guys were in the end zone (see pic below, in the background, hehe) and rather than moving her to the extraction marker I might as well sit one turn out and see what happens. She could just run again or.. get a kill. I reloaded a savegame and indeed, two more EXALT guys popped up and.. she got her kill :-() And by that, a "regular" promotion. :) And on top of that, another promotion for the covert mission. It's the first time that I've seen a double promotion ??? :)
Warning: I also encountered a bug. If you get a double promotion after a covert operation, you need to click on the orange field where it reads "has been promoted" so you get to promote the soldier and THEN it will go back to the same promotion message with the same orange field, promotion is a different rank this time, and click on it again. There is also a "continue" button but if you click on that before you click on the first promotion, you'll never see the second promotion option again. I tried several times using savegame reloads -- make sure you do it properly and DON'T hit continue before you promoted your soldier.
Good name, Operation Red Flame, because getting a kill with a red laser and successfully finishing the mission at the time isn't too shabby at all -- plus the double promotion as the icing on the cake :-D
[smg id=6679 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW covert op extraction 10"]
And now look: 4 Missions, 3 kills, and now Sergeant "Ghost" which is a cool nickname for a mimetic skin sniper that actually uses a ghost armour technique modded into her skin. :-()
[smg id=6680 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW covert op extraction 11"]
Here, she's running to cover behind that lorry and all you see is some dark orange blurr the shape of a body.. action cam in action :) Looks cool when you're playing and it feels good because you know the enemy can't see her the next turn :-()
[smg id=6681 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW mimetic skin action cam"]
Well. After every successful covert operation you'll get clues as to where the EXALT base is not located and after three successful covert operations you'll get the first and earliest possible chance to accuse a country of harbouring the EXALT base.
[smg id=6682 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW EXALT base raid 01"]
In case you wrongly accuse a country, it will immediately leave the council and you'll lose money and all kinds of good stuff and.. it looks bad on your curriculum vitae. :-D
[smg id=6683 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW EXALT base raid 02"]
Of course I never guess wrong, so I guessed: because, following the clues, it's not China, it's not North America and it's not an English speaking country and because EXALT presence usually increases panic a bit.. so I guessed that it just had to be India.
Bingo! :)
[smg id=6684 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW EXALT base raid 03"]
Now I may get rid of those annoying futuristic mobsters for good, any time I want. I already know that raiding their base will be quite something so I want to wait a bit longer and get better gear in the meantime. Also, performing regular scans reveal their cells and revealed cells cannot harm my own operations. Instead, I may get a few more funny covert operations so I think that I'll wait with the raid and grind some XP and so on when going on covert operations. We'll see. :)
[smg id=6685 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW EXALT base raid 04"]
I had a funny moment with my Tank Girl during a covert extraction mission. Particularly remarkable about it is the fact that in Zemalf's video of his XCOM:EW playthrough, when he played the same mission, he was in the exact same position and did exactly the same -- or the other way round -- however, we were both in the same situation on the same map. We had a MEC trooper and used that brutal punch on a slightly disturbed EXALT operative. And both of us said the same, too :-()
GET OFF MY ROOF! :laugh:
[smg id=6686 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW get off my roof 01"]
From the same video I remembered that during one of three enemy waves there would be an EXALT operative landing on a platform hanging from a crane, so I chucked a proximity mine up there and indeed, it worked, he blew up the moment he landed on it :laugh:
[smg id=6687 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW get off my roof 02"]
That was also the kill that earned Tank Girl another promotion. :)
[smg id=6688 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW MEC trooper 03"]
And because the enemy now sends "elite" operatives who use better weapons, I nicked one of their sniper rifles for each of my own snipers. And Ghost got her cheap kill (taking out a sniper, how fitting)
[smg id=6689 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW covert op extraction 12"]
That also finished the mission..
[smg id=6690 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW covert op extraction 13"]
..and earned her another promotion. :)
[smg id=6691 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW covert op extraction 14"]
Nice pictures. Cool to see all these promotions ^-^
Thank you :) And the promotions, hehe indeed. However, it's part of a game that really keeps me busy. I need to level up my crew in order to fight the enemy that too is levelling up all the time. :)
Indeed, one can see you're a serious gamer, Major General Blade ^-^
Not serious at all but enthusiastic, if I get my hands on the right game :-D It is easy to name those few games that got me interested that much. I really loved to play Alpha Protocol which had some similarities, in a way, and this here is much deeper by orders of magnitude. XCOM 2012, EU and particularly EW, is definitely one of the best games if not the best game I've played so far.
There are so many ways to screw it up very early on and for good, here, and at the time there are so many things you can decide when or whether at all to do them. Choices over choices and all have consequences that you will notice, for the better or the worse.
Given you made the right choices, you're almost free to do whatever you want but it is not open world; the game will throw problems at you that you'll have to solve but you will have to solve them your way. There is no "only this way or not at all" but you'll quickly find out what is important.
What is really nice is that I may customise my "soldiers" so much so that there really is an immersion, you develop some kind of "relation" if you want -- at least they're individual enough and you spend so much effort in developing them that it does mean something if one of them dies. You don't want that to happen. So far, it hasn't happened to me except for a test run and it really felt bad.
So, you have immersion and identification and motivation and diversion and a good portion of randomness which may be good or bad. In other words, it is a brilliant concept and no game will be like any other. Too many different factors make every playthrough different.
Most excellent :) :-X
Now they're all Colonels. What a show-off squad :-D The veterans have now chalked up 31 Missions and no member of my unit has died. I plan to have those veterans on the very last mission at the end of the game, probably this very crew here. :)
[smg id=6692 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW crew pic 03"]
Don't they just look great :-()
[smg id=6693 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW crew pic 04"]
Oh, I've never shown you "Base Management" -- when you start out, this is almost empty. The green crosses mean "adjacency bonus" for those facilities they connect. So far, I'd say, this is an at least near perfect build. :)
[smg id=6694 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW base management"]
That's quite the motley crew of characters you have there!
hehe yes, one of every of five existing classes and one class twice. :) I have a support, a heavy, two assaults, one MEC and a sniper. You don't have to do that, though, you may choose whatever you like. For instance, when playing the other game EU, I once played a mission with four assaults and two snipers. It was great :) But here I just go for "combined efforts" as each class has its own unique abilities that, when combined, may present the enemy with an invincible squad. Of course, in the end it all depends on how you play. You can very well screw up with any constellation :-D
Is this game anything like Dragon's Age? I played that a long time ago and can't remember the particulars, but I do recall something about developing buddies
I'm sorry, I have no idea as I haven't played that game. In a way, your XCOM soldiers are a bit like avatars in a RPG, you can customise them a lot.
With EW, you get a new and very nice additional customisation: a spoken language option for each character.
[smg id=6695 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW customisation"]
During missions, you'll hear your squad members utter all kinds of remarks. They swear if they missed or comment on a hit, respond to commands you issue, noises they hear (of hidden enemies), enemies they see and so on. Now the game has got language files for players in different countries, currently available are English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian and Polish. Each language has six female and another six male voice actors. It is fun to hear your guys talk in different languages, particularly if the language actually matches the country flag of your guys. For some reason, I have two Russians, one Pole, two French and one Egyptian member on my squad and Ghost, my "covert operative" sniper is Dutch. So I can actually let the two Russians, the two French and the Pole use their "native" language while the Egyptian speaks English and the Dutch speaks German. :)
Sounds like you can create quite complex personalities :-X
Absolutely. For instance, I am really still sorry about losing my Canadian sniper Lockdown because I couldn't finish my very first attempt at EU -- it was a lost cause -- so I restarted with a fresh game but without him. I miss him because I spent so much time on his development (levelling his aim up with savegame-scumming and so on) and because he was very promising, a great shot, he saved my virtual arse a couple of times during hard missions. He was my very first good sniper.
[smg id=6580 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM skilled sniper"]
That wouldn't have happened with other games easily, that you'd have been emotionally attached to your avatars. Here you see them fight for you, you level them up, they've got nicknames and all that, and you spend many, many hours with those characters.
Look, in my current game, the MEC trooper is quite a personality. She made me laugh more than once because of her own (re)actions. She even finished a mission on her own with me just watching and laughing -- turned out she stirred up the last enemy who in return fired at her and she responded with automatic sensors and fired back -- and killed that last alien, mission success. :laugh: You can only control so much, like by telling them to go to a spot you point out but once you've set them to "overwatch" (reaction fire) plus, in her case, she's got responsive sensors that fire at anyone who attacked her, you just can't control what happens next because it's an AI turn (aliens' turn) and that may cause a reaction due to said automated functions.
[smg id=6696 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW MEC trooper 04"]
Well, I built her from scratch and that means, I had to have her arms and legs amputated and all that.. transforming an assault soldier into something that can be stuffed into an armour-plated tin can. Then levelling up a MEC takes about twice or three times as long as any other class plus the gear for the MEC is so expensive (uses rare Meld, and money, and research that requires time and other alien materials and so forth) that you're likely to have only one fully upgraded.
Or, my special agent, the sniper Ghost. When I send her on a covert operation with nothing but a pistol, I am always worried. I need to protect her so she can fulfill her mission and I need to get her out safely what is called covert extraction. If you screwed that up, all the efforts would have been in vain. You just don't want that :)
And it is always nice to see when your guys get promoted :)
That is what I'd call very immersive :)
Sounds almost like the simcity of character creation and development
most of all it's resources and time management, then it's battle. The combining factors are strategic thinking and tactical decisions.
But it has got great graphics that keep you busy looking :-D
:-X I'm glad you're enjoying the game so much - good to see the enthusiasm!
Thank you :)
The game is great because it combines many things that I like.
- Sci-Fi stuff, always great :-D
- great and fluent graphics, lots of details
- destructible environment. Chuck a grenade anywhere and stuff actually breaks
- lots of weapons, armour and upgrades
- explosions :-()
- time. You can take your own time.
- unlimited savegames
- lots of choices that actually mean something and that will change the game play
- all decisions will have consequences with usually a permanent effect
- you decide when to play story-progressing missions
- lots of customisations
- even the music is good and changes depending on situations
- great sound effects
- within game limits, total freedom of how to solve problems or missions
- random events and a vast amount of maps prevent boring repetitions
- clever AI, interesting to fight enemies
- you will quickly develop a feeling that you're working with "people" that mean something to you
- your own character (the invisible "Commander") is important, everything depends on you
- injuries are meaningful -- infirmary for several days, can't go on missions
- death means significant loss of time, resources and unique abilities, apart from emotional impact
- all of your soldiers are going to be unique characters
- proper tactical decisions are rewarding and satisfying
- occasional humour and funny situations
There's likely more but so far, it should give you quite an impression :-D
It certainly does and all except the scifi part is intriguing for me - I just can't get into scifi much like D_B can't get into 3rd person shooters.
I like the dirt, grime, and dust of places like the FC2 setting the best, and historical locations second, like in the AC series
Alright :)
Quote from: Art Blade on March 25, 2014, 02:48:35 PM
...Then levelling up a MEC takes about twice or three times as long as any other class plus the gear for the MEC is so expensive (uses rare Meld, and money, and research that requires time and other alien materials and so forth) that you're likely to have only one fully upgraded.
Can you use your crew members in a different 'extended' playthrough, like in Borderlands 2 where you could fight your way through the same campaign again with more challenging enemies?
no, they're unique to the playthrough.
Alright. I went through every possible EXALT covert mission and a few normal missions with Ghost and now she has finally reached the rank of a colonel. :)
[smg id=6697 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW Ghost now colonel"]
My guys are all genetically modified, you can tell by the look of their armour (more or less bare arms)
[smg id=6698 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW crew pic 05"]
Then I finally raided the EXALT base to put an end to that. The base was a cool map, a luxurious mansion on top of a skyscraper.
[smg id=6699 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW EXALT base raid 05"]
All in all, those missions were a nice diversion and a lot of fun to play. :) Helped racking up quite a few kills and XP.
[smg id=6700 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW EXALT base raid 06"]
Now it's back to the story missions, coming up next is raiding the alien base which is a turning point in the game because it introduces the phase of psi warfare and respectively a new wave of hardcore alien enemies. :-D
OK, Alien base raided. No problem. But now.. they'll seek out and raid my own base.
And they'll send stuff like that over. ???
It takes the combined effort of several soldiers to take one of those sectopods plus their defending and repairing two drones out.
[smg id=6701 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW sectopod"]
Here is Ghost on a non-covert mission. She can still ghost though, both with a mimetic skin gene mod (makes her invisible if she moves from and to cover without the enemy being able to see either one) and with her in the zone skill (she can keep shooting as long as she can kill with one shot any enemy that she either flanked or that is not in cover) -- which is a real killer.
See her in action here :)
She is still invisible but has got six big enemies right next to her. Red alien head symbols down right in the pic each mean "enemy in sight" (works both ways) while yellow heads each mean being flanked (more dangerous, hits are more likely critical/lethal)
[smg id=6702 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW Ghost in the zone 01"]
I was lucky I had a heavy in place who helped with a shredder rocket to soften the aliens up. Had to be careful not to shredder Ghost, too :-D
[smg id=6703 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW Ghost in the zone 02"]
The enemy got stirred up by that and spread out
[smg id=6704 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW Ghost in the zone 03"]
So now there are five enemies in sight (one is down in that pit, out of reach) and only one is in cover. Going for a chain-kill >:D
[smg id=6705 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW Ghost in the zone 04"]
mopping up.. note the sniper rifle symbol in the pic down right corner goes from blue to black which means I am draining its magazine.
[smg id=6706 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW Ghost in the zone 05"]
Finished with the last alien in that window to the right because he was in cover which ends the "in the zone" streak. Well, "done." :-() No one left for her to kill. Also note that all that was in one turn, the enemy had to wait.. and die. >:D
[smg id=6707 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW Ghost in the zone 06"]
You'd said something about wrongly accusing a county of harboring the terrorists gets them upset and they stop supporting your fight against the aliens.
I was wondering, if early on in the game you can set a save point then accuse each country in turn restoring to the save point (so you don't lose their support) until you've pinned the terrorist location down and then once you've got the muscle to wipe them out you know right where to apply the full effort of your forces.
That is possible. I actually did it in two guesses, Germany was wrong although it might have been just it, and my reload and retry hit it spot on. However, I found out that scanning the globe frequently for hidden EXALT cells reveals them and then they can't do anything that harms your progress in any way. So they only hit me once when they were introduced. Scanning not only prevents them from interfering with your progress, on revealing an EXALT cell it also gives you the opportunity to send someone on a covert operation to that cell and then extract said someone which all in all are very entertaining missions. Once know where their base is (usually after you infiltrated and eliminated all their cells) the raid of their base will be the grand finale which is what your suggestion amounts to. I knew it very early (after three extraction missions is the earliest possible opportunity to accuse a country) yet I decided to keep on infiltrating until there was only their base left. And raiding it was a nice mission. :)
Currently it looks more like this, however: Brute aliens up close and personal. And usually not easy at all any more. :)
[smg id=6708 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW sectopod 02"]
I've finally got to play and finished the XCOM Base Defense mission. :) :-X
However, it was a massacre and not exactly like probably most people play it. I started with my three oldest colonels (all with 43 missions each) which are those wearing fedoras, and got assigned four random "blue shirts" which are just office guys with a simple pistol, assault rifle, and thanks to one perk that I had unlocked, they got two rather than one hand grenade each which was really a big help. However, in the end, I only used both hand grenades of only three rookies, the fourth rookie didn't find the time to use them because once the mission got too hard towards the end, I just sent those rookies as far away from the battle as possible, to the back of the map, out of reach of the enemy.
In the middle of the mission I had ONE reinforcement from my unit, my second Assault "Werewolf" with 37 missions who was direly needed. As far as I knew you'd get the six top ranking soldiers of your unit, preferably colonels. If you had more than six colonels, then the ones with the most missions and then the ones with the most kills. If you had only three colonels and five majors, then the majors would be selected randomly. Well, I have seven colonels. You wouldn't believe the time I spent thinking how to get the 7th (Ghost) into the top six (I might have sent one colonel to the gene lab for 2 days just so Ghost would step up but decided to leave it as it was) So, first you get three at once, then the rest during the mission. What I didn't know was that you'd only get reinforcements IF your rookies got killed, replacements, if you will. My rookies didn't die. So I didn't get reinforcements, except that fourth guy which is apparently the maximum if no one dies. :D
Which means, after the second half of the mission I had to fight so many and so tough enemies that I wouldn't want to put my rookies at risk to die, so I was left with just four of my soldiers. And they weren't the best, just the ones with the most experience as in most missions. They had comparatively lousy stats, my newer guys such as the snipers and the MEC trooper would have been far better but I had to cope without them.
Whatever, I managed. No casualties. Just four soldiers from my unit. Took several hours to complete because it was so difficult. You had to fight through three rooms, each room had one or more waves of enemies.
the start
[smg id=6709 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW base defense 01"]
in the middle -- after the third wave of enemies had been dropped..
[smg id=6710 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW base defense 02"]
..and after. :-() I compared the first screenshot with my game screen so I could get about the exact angle for this one and it worked :) You see, I didn't even move Brittany, the highlighted rookie.
[smg id=6711 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW base defense 03"]
the end. It was an epic battle. :)
[smg id=6712 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW base defense 04"]
P.S.
Actually there were four segments/rooms: Rear Guard Station, Command Center, each with one wave, and MEC Bay and Forward Access Tunnel, each with two waves of enemies.
And I started out with 2 rookies, the 3rd and 4th came with my 4th unit's soldier already after the first wave and still in the first section. So we had four rookies and four colonels.
And this was the only time I could use a rocket (which I made count >:D )
[smg id=6713 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW base defense 05"]
[smg id=6714 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW base defense 06"]
The rookies chucked hand grenades on top to finish them off. :-D
[smg id=6715 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW base defense 07"]
Excellent story mate, and cool pics all the way through the playthrough. I can imagine how entertaining the game can be and I also reckon it's quite complicated at times :-X :)
Well done on the playthrough and all the comments here. +1 for your effort! :-X ;)
Thank you, Binnatics :)
I've not played through, though. This is about the middle of it :-D
Here another new mission which I didn't know anything about except that it was supposed to become a DLC on its own but instead was incorporated into EW. I think it consists of three parts/missions. I played the first one already which wasn't really very different from other maps (had to eliminate aliens and find some special cargo but it wasn't there) and now the next part was spectacular from the views, a map located on top of a massive dam. And I found, err, rescued, a French lady there who has now integrated with XCOM. As a new soldier, if you will.
[smg id=6716 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW Deluge 01"]
[smg id=6717 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW Deluge 02"]
[smg id=6718 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW Deluge 03"]
[smg id=6719 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW Deluge 04"]
[smg id=6720 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW Deluge 05"]
Mr Blade: "Of course I will help you find the others" :-()
Spectacular view indeed! Great mission :-X :)
Although you're not entirely through, you definitely earned that kudo with all the effort you put into your daily review of the game ;)
Thanks again :)
The second pic, by the way, is not a pre-rendered cutscene but a live cutscene triggered when my MEC trooper "Tank Girl" knocks out an alien counterpart. They have MEC troopers, too, which are called Mechtoid, a contraction of MEC and Sectoid.
Which reminds me. I wanted to add something regarding the XCOM base defense.
When I watched Zemalf's playthrough on YT and watched his base defense again, I realised a few things that were different compared with my defense mission.
He played it early, a few game months before I did, and therefore didn't have to cope with the heavy stuff like Mechtoids, Sectopods, elite mutons and so forth because each new month the game introduces a new alien enemy (until you know them all) so when I played, I had to cope with exactly all the heavy stuff he avoided. Then, he had rookies killed and got his own soldiers as replacements while I had to stick with what I got. And he had a MEC and a sniper in his defense mission while I didn't. He ended up with "just" 32 aliens while I had 42. However, he played it on the absolute maximum difficulty while I played it on easy.
The way I played it was bloody difficult, however, like using 4 against 42 and no strong weapons, and no sniper, no MEC.. and keeping all my rookies alive (that was my personal goal, see whether I could keep them alive until the end) and this playthrough I'm using my first soldiers all the way without exception which means that I couldn't "boost" them in any way. They're pretty low specs compared to what I could have used if I had used fresh soldiers that I could have levelled up with all boosts possible in order to get high specs.
All in all, I had a VERY tough mission the way I chose to play it, despite the easy difficulty level. I reckon it wouldn't have been possible on (much) higher difficulty levels. It was exhausting but at the time very rewarding. It does feel like an accomplishment and it should have been rewarded with an achievement but hey, it's still fine to know that I did it and that you know it. :)
Also by the way, in now more than 300 gaming hours, I have never lost a single soldier. Which is why I dismissed all the rookies after I had decided to stick with what I've got, my basic seven soldiers (six on any mission and one for the covert missions) The three other guys that I have on my unit had been rewards after accomplishing certain council missions, like that French lady.
Currently I have 10 soldiers. 7 colonels, 1 major and 1 captain. The French lady just added herself starting out as 1 sergeant sniper. :)
Just watched a vid by a different guy, ChristopherOdd, who plays XCOM:EW and only recently uploaded some vids. I watched his base defense and think he's clever enough to make his vids enjoyable ;) So I checked his channel and yay, he's on a second wave playthrough on impossible ironman (maximum difficulty, no savegames, and the "second wave" are options that alter the gameplay) he said he'd not change his soldiers even if they're with bad specs, keeps what he gets.
That is going to be interesting :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22-V86R7uNo&list=PLj_Goi54wf0cwE3cOxqk0Pw0KmFfXFNbY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22-V86R7uNo&list=PLj_Goi54wf0cwE3cOxqk0Pw0KmFfXFNbY)
A few posts ago - explosions! :-X Now, that's the AB I know :-()
I can't deny it and I can't stop doing it, either :-D
OK, I finished that Deluge and so on mission with that French lady, freed three more captives who added themselves to my unit. Was nice :) Only I didn't need them because I wanted to keep my veterans for the final game. :)
And it so happens that I just did that. YAY ^-^ I just finished ("won") the game, got an achievement called Ain't No Cavalry Comin' which requires to "Have a soldier survive every mission in a full game" -- I had three. :)
Actually I had the whole old crew aboard except Tank girl because she can't turn invisible. Stealth or invisibility, however, is my strong suit for winning the ultimate battle. For the enemy it must have usually been as if a whole unit materialised in front (or worse, behind) of them and at the time the enemy would have realised it, they already had become extinct. >:D
Well, it was great. Phew. Glad I managed it with my old crew :-D Again, no battles and no single soldier lost. :) However, it was on easy difficulty level but at least I've seen all the stuff there is, even got an achievement for researching everything and another one for completing all foundry projects.
Here the final screenies -- the last stage of the base management with late game facilities such as the Psionic Labs, Hyperwave Relay and the Gollop Chamber. Also, the final crew with Ghost being the "volunteer."
XCOM Enemy Within and Enemy Unknown are such EXCELLENT GAMES :-X I just downloaded the "Slingshot" DLC, new customisations, a new guy, and three new missions. Going for the next playthrough :-() :-() :-()
[smg id=6729 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW end game 01"]
[smg id=6730 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW end game 02"]
[smg id=6731 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW end game 03"]
[smg id=6732 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW end game 04"]
[smg id=6733 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW end game 05"]
Nice pictures! Good w@&k :) :-X
Curious how your new playthrough will be ;)
Well done Art :-X :) It's been an interesting and fun account thus far. Good luck on your next campaign!
It's nice when a game really grabs you, isn't it? 8)
A question - the XCOM games are turn-based, yes? So can you take as much time as you like to consider your next move? Because that's what I like about Civ V, another turn-based affair - there is no time pressure. I like to take my time to think and plan stuff.
Thanks guys :)
And yes, fragger, it's a turn-based strategy game so you can indeed take your own time which is why I like it very much. Sid Meyer wasn't exactly an active developer on the team but he served as the director of creative development.
I think you really should read about it on a regular (as opposed to a gaming) Wikipedia to get a comprehensive full overview. It is a very decent article and the reason why I don't write a review -- it's just too big a game to pack it into a tiny review and if I did, it would lack all the details that are important.. so, here you go. It is a good read and once you're done reading that, follow the UFO-wiki for more details related to the actual gameplay. All the most important links right here for you, enjoy :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XCOM:_Enemy_Unknown (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XCOM:_Enemy_Unknown)
http://ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Enemy_Unknown_%28EU2012%29 (http://ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Enemy_Unknown_%28EU2012%29)
http://ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=XCOM:_Enemy_Within_DLC_%28EU2012%29 (http://ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=XCOM:_Enemy_Within_DLC_%28EU2012%29)
Thanks mate, I shall look into :)
:-X +1 just for being so passionate about the game ^-^
Thank you very much :)
Currently I'm back to the base game (Enemy Unknown) for my second playthrough (http://www.openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=3415.msg67678#msg67678) on that.
Back to EW, starting my 2nd PT here. Having finished games on easy and normal, I thought I might as well try and start a new one on Classic difficulty. :-D "An extreme challenge for experienced XCOM players only" -- Oh boy. ??? :-()
First mission, I was a little tensed up but went straight through, not a scratch! My first mission on normal at EU was a lot more difficult, it all depends on the map you start your game on. I knew this one and was lucky, too.
[smg id=6745 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW 2ndPT fingers crossed"]
Operation Empty Grave. How fitting, nice omen :) They all returned home safely indeed. :-D
[smg id=6746 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW 2ndPT fingers crossed 2"]
You really have to start from scratch, there's almost nothing. ???
[smg id=6747 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW 2ndPT starting base"]
Winning a mission with a female-only squad is rewarded with an achievement called "Flight of the Valkyries" -- I sacrificed my valuable sniper (left him at home) in favour of a female rookie so I might get that achievement and I did :-D On top, I got a second sniper, nice. ^-^
[smg id=6748 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW 2ndPT valkyries"]
You're hooked!
Your prior experience sure has paid off on the new difficulty level :-X
yes. As the description states, "for experienced players" -- I'm no fool nor do I take pleasure in starting a game that I don't know on high or highest difficulty levels. Not my type of challenge. But now I'm curious whether I can do it on the next level :)
By the way, at this level, a tiny enemy such as a sectoid (first enemy) can already kill you with one shot.
QuoteFrom Normal to Classic
Making the transition from one difficulty level to the other can prove to be tough. The main differences to watch out for on Classic are:
1) The +10 Aim bonus to the Aliens - suddenly Sectoids can be a lot more lethal.
2) Soldiers have -1 HP than on Classic <sic> [Normal]
- crucially this means Light Plasma Rifles can one-shot soldiers with basic armor.
3) Thin Men/Outsiders now have 4/5 health - Assault Rifles are not much useful against them anymore.
4) No OTS at the beginning - stuck to 4 soldier squads for a while until you get a Sergeant promoted and the OTS built.
(With the Slingshot DLC, you can get Zhang fairly early in the first month to satisfy this condition)
5) Panic now spreads throughout countries - all the world seems to be turning redder and redder.
6) No extra satellite at the beginning - and less funding/base power/etc making resources scarce due to all of the
requirements (OTS, satellite, research, engineering, etc.)
source: http://ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Survival_Guide_%28EU2012%29#From_Normal_to_Classic (http://ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Survival_Guide_%28EU2012%29#From_Normal_to_Classic)
OTS = Officer Training School, a facility you need in order to buy tactical perks, such as increasing your squad size from four to five to six soldiers or more XP gained from kills and so forth.
What is bugging me a bit is that EW is more difficult than EU already, that I haven't played EW on normal but easy so this is a jump from Easy to Classic, that I now have all DLCs including Slingshot and Progeny missions switched on (they're tricky on easy and challenging on normal and probably bloody lethal on Classic), that there's EXALT going to mess with me, that there are those Seeker and Mectoid enemies that don't exist in EU, and that there's going to be a retaliation for raiding the enemy base (they'll raid mine in return). And that I have a lot less funding and all that. This is really going to be interesting, to put it mildly.
I'm starting to freak out slowly and then I'll jump into full panic mode I guess :-D
I'd never be able to play on the classic mode ???
yes, you are. The question is, for how long. :-D Same goes for me 8-X
I survived the first month, bought and launched a satellite, built a workshop and a satellite uplink for the next three satellites, built a power plant and excavated a little so I'd have room for new facilities. I had to sell alien stuff to be able to finance all that. And now, with my new month's income of April I was barely able to buy three new satellites. Now I'm broke, but kept all countries and soldiers :)
Out of curiosity I decided to test a reckless move right into a little sectoid's field of view without taking cover. That ba$t@rd aimed, shot, and killed my soldier. Just like that. The body of the soldier was lying on the ground and beneath it, a puddle of blood started to spread out, and in the end it was a really huge red puddle. Looked horrible. I don't want that to happen, if possible, not at all. So I went one step back to the original game and made my careful step, as usual. My guys survived.
This is really a tough game now. I am SO thankful every time an alien enemy decides to shoot at my guys and misses, you wouldn't believe how thankful you are for those misses. And how scared you are when your own guys miss. Quite nerve-wrecking :-D
I'm always out of money and it seems that every mission has two sides: the obvious one is the success and panic reduction but the other one is a panic increase about everywhere else. I'm in mid-April now (you always start in March 2015) and already two countries are on full panic which means they will leave if I can't launch a satellite before the end of the month. One more country is nearly on full panic, 4 out of 5 panic points already, which means they're about to turn red, too, so I'll likely need yet another satellite for that one. I had anticipated that so I took precautions as in building a satellite uplink and ordering three satellites which will be ready before the end of the month. All that cost me all the money I had, including some other stuff absolutely necessary such as excavations (you can't just build a facility anywhere you want, you need to have an access elevator reaching that level and an empty cave to place the facility in or you'll have to excavate first which, of course, costs money, and facilities need power so you need to build power plants that require excavations which, of course, drains more money than you really have so you sell stuff that is originally intended for research which will now be delayed..)
In other words, more than ever, the base management is most important and on top of the list, to do everything possible to ensure satellite covering. Whatever else you want is of no importance, even if you need it, because without satellites there will be no funding which aside from money includes getting scientists needed for research leading to technology progress and getting engineers needed for constructing hardware such as weapons and armour. So, losing countries leads to losing the game and we don't want that, do we :) It is also important not to forget to ensure finances for building and maintaining interceptors (air craft) that are needed to protect satellites and to shoot down UFOs detected by said satellites.
You may get the picture already, all this plus fighting battles (missions) against enemies that are always a step or three ahead of you. They have better weapons and more often than not their health is too high for a one-shot kill so they require two soldiers' turns and that may lead to a shortcoming of turns which gives the enemy a subsequent extra turn which may prove lethal for my own soldiers. That's when luck and bad luck comes into play..
Apart from having to know what to do when, luck or randomness is a factor that plays a very big role at this level of difficulty.
It's really hard :)
Looking surprisingly good so far, nearing the end of the month of April and I did as best as I possibly could to keep things running as smoothly as the situation allowed. Got another satellite ordered and even started another satellite uplink allowing for three more launches and I should be able to finance the next two satellites. Unfortunately, it takes nearly a month (21 days) for a satellite to be ready for launch so if you can't order them within the first 10 days, you cannot launch them by the end of the month when countries may be on full panic and therefore leave for good. Also, satellite uplinks take 14 days until they are operational so that even if you have got enough satellites, you cannot use them without sufficient uplink capacity.
I have to mention that this is how I prefer to play, getting as many satellites up and running within the first three months, because I want to keep all countries and get a massive funding out of satellite coverage while still trying to buy one or three little fun things like perhaps a scope for better aim to improve my combat chances. That's the other thing how I play, I want to keep all of my soldiers and win every battle so I have to make sure to minimise the risks. Missing a target because the aim hadn't been improved with a scope or some such and then get clobbered in return? No thanks. I like to see the enemy dead as soon as I see them, within one turn that is, if possible even killing them during their turn (that's what's called "overwatch" -- react on enemy moves while they move) and finishing them off after their turn, leaving them exactly zero chances. :-() Doesn't always w@&k but hey, I can still try :-D
With the funding bit as in having spare money, I have to wait until the first EXALT cell has revealed itself. They tend to knock on your screen and say thank you for half of your money they just nicked off you and that, my friends, is something I really don't want to happen. So I spend money on stuff and leave as little as possible in cash until EXALT has shown up. If they take 1 of 2 coins, fine, but if they take 200 out of 400, that's a massive blow. With about next to no money, they may still pop up with "hi, we just sabotaged your current research project" which costs time that I don't have but hey, there will be something happening, no matter what. Might as well try to make the best of my miserable options :-D
I'll show you something about a strategy challenge I'm currently facing.
You already know, I'll be able to deploy
three satellites by the end of the month. So I am very interested that
no more than three countries turn red on full panic because I can only reduce panic by deploying satellites and that means it will turn red countries back to something less dramatic and make them stay on the council. Currently I have two countries on full panic, so I am really hoping to keep the other countries' panic levels down and can only afford one more country to turn red.
[smg id=6749 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW 2ndPT abduction strategy 01"]
Now comes an abduction mission. It offers three locations, of course they are on different continents which means I can only go on one mission to reduce panic in that country and the other two countries will jump into the red and orange zones because I left them alone with their alien abduction problem. I can only do one, can't change that. But which one?
[smg id=6750 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW 2ndPT abduction strategy 02"]
There's North America, Europe, and Asia. Tempting to go for the Russian offer in Europe because that country is already on four points and one more panic point will turn it red. The other two countries in North America and Asia don't seem to be that problematic. What will be the outcome if I take the Russian job, should I take it?
Here is the result if you take it.
Spoiler
Unfortunately, that causes four countries to turn red and you only have three satellites. You will lose one country by the end of the month unless a miracle happens.
[smg id=6751 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW 2ndPT abduction strategy 03"]
What choice would have prevented it? Check if you're right:
Spoiler
I took the Canadian job in North America and only got three red countries which I will be able to save, unless something really bad is going to surprise me.
[smg id=6752 type=preview align=center caption="XCOM EW 2ndPT abduction strategy 04"]
Of course, if something else happens until the end of the month, it may turn into a game changer and I may still lose a country. Also, something could happen in one of the red countries and I could be fortunate and win a mission there which might come with the benefit of panic reduction. You'll never know until the month is turning over, so that is why you DON'T deploy satellites before the last day of the month :)
Let's see what is going to happen.
Damn, that's pretty intense. Is there any reason why so many countries turn into panic while serving the Russians? Geopolitic strategies? Or is it just a bit of luck?
Oh, and the EXALT: Is that taxes? Sounds pretty much like it, but the exact translation shows a funny twist to the subject ^-^
Good game man :-X :)
Thanks :)
EXALT is basically a human enemy, a group of terrorists that get in your way and try to sabotage your game. You need to detect them by doing sweeps on the world map and if you found one or more cells, send a covert operative to one cell and blow their operation. The extraction of your covert operative is a mission that you take control of your soldiers again and fight a regular battle, only against humans that basically have the same weapons and upgrades as you. In the end, you need to destroy their headquarters which is one of the highlights of EW.
Regarding abduction missions: If you are successful, the countries of the continent you won your mission on won't increase panic but the other continents that had unattended abductions will add one panic point to all of their countries. If you go take a look again now, you'll see how it worked. :)
I assume that you can't fight the EXALT to prevent them from stealing your money?
Sounds like you need a money cheat >:D
Too bad about your boy lying in a spreading pool of blood - that would distress me if my boys were hurt or killed
The first time you learn about EXALT is because of an act of sabotage. After that, with money, you can have the earth swept with whatever service that might be. Each time you do a sweep, you may or may not reveal EXALT cells in one or more countries. The costs increase with every new sweep until the end of the month and then get reset for the next month. Revealed cells can't do any harm, so that's how you can help it, do frequent sweeps IF you have the money for it. Also, you may send a covert operative to no more than one revealed cell at a time and disable it; that's how those extraction missions occur and how you gather clues where EXALT's HQ is not located until you successfully accuse a country of harbouring their HQ which is when you get that last mission with the goal of eliminating the HQ and EXALT for the rest of the game.
I haven't cheated so far, which is a good sign, which means it is a really good game, actually.
The "boy" you were referring to was just a TEST, you may have misunderstood it. I reverted to my previous savegame so he actually has never died. ;) But yes, it isn't nice to lose your soldiers which is why I try to prevent that.
Early days for me with EW, picked it up on special the other day but haven't had much time to play what with visitors over the Christmas break and all.
Looks good so far, only there's a kind of minor glitch in the main menu. There are two tutorials which can be enabled, a standard one like the one in Enemy Unknown (shows you the basic combat principles) and another one for a new feature in the game, "Meld" technology.
So when I started a new game I disabled the standard tutorial but left the Meld one available to find out what that was all about. That was OK, all it did was enable an initial mission where you can recover two Meld devices (left by aliens) and get an amount of "meld points" from each one. Later in the game, Meld points will let you build MEC Troops and a couple of new base facilities. After doing the Meld tutorial mission, I didn't like the random base layout that was generated. You don't get to see this until completing your first mission, and on this occasion it put two Steam vents right under my Satellite Uplink area, where they would really get in the way later. Steam vents are great for power generation provided they appear in locations where they won't obstruct your placement of other important facilities.
So I restarted the game, still with the Meld tutorial enabled. The tutorial took place on the same battle map again, so this tutorial appears to use the same map each time. Once again I got a base layout I wasn't happy with so I restarted once more.
This time I disabled the Meld tutorial from the main menu. But when I started the new game, it began with the standard tutorial even though I had that disabled. I escaped out (eventually - the tutorial includes an unskippable cut scene which goes on for a couple of minutes), went back to the main menu, and checked - yep, both tutorials disabled. Started a new game - got the bloody tutorial again! WTF? Again I had to sit through the cut scene, then escape.
Turns out that the only way to disable the standard tutorial is to enable both tutorials in the main menu, then immediately disable them both. THEN the game will start correctly. Whew...
Anyway, the game looks good but I can already tell that it will be a bit tougher than the vanilla version. Some of the new maps I've seen have been beautifully detailed.
I'm already wishing though that they'd come up with some other way of getting Meld. A map may or may not have a couple of Meld devices in it - if it does, this is indicated on the map but it doesn't tell you where they are. They'll be off hidden in the fog-of-war somewhere, so you have to go looking for them (a sort of directional indicator appears when you're getting close to one). The thing is, you only have a limited number of turns to get to them before they switch themselves off and you lose them, which means running around in a bit of a reckless manner to find them which is at odds with the way I like to play (I like to advance my squad cautiously, make good use of cover and put them on Overwatch a lot). Accumulating Meld points will allow you to genetically modify troops and build MECs, and you need a good amount of Meld to do either. So I possibly won't ever have a lot of Meld unless I want to risk my guys' skins sprinting all around the map to find devices and possibly running into bad guys unprepared.
However, if you can eliminate all enemies, you'll still collect any Meld that hasn't expired, so that may be one way of getting it - at least in the early missions where there aren't too many bad guys to deal with.
This dude earned a medal:
[smg id=8381 align=center width=600]
This is a new feature in EW. A medal will actually confer a bonus of some kind on the recipient (you can choose one of two bonuses to associate with each type of medal). This is an additional way of skilling up soldiers. I like it :-X
I'll have a complete read of this topic when I get time (I don't have much even now - visitors on the way). I've had precious little time to myself since getting EW and I didn't want to waste what time I had reading and not playing :-() Obviously there's lots more to learn. This appears to be quite a leap from the vanilla game.
nice, fragger, I'm glad you got EW :-X :) So far, knowing that you hate invisible enemies, all I want you to know is that there is some sort of defence against those (more precisely, against strangulation by those) You can augment your soldier to become immune or use some type of protective collar which unfortunately uses up one slot where otherwise you might have put a grenade. If you check my pics you'll often see that collar in a soldier's inventory.
Thanks Art :) And thanks for the tip, I'll probably be fitting my snipers with those collars :-()
I think I used it on everyone :-D
:-D I'll see how it goes...
Enemy Within definitely seems tougher than the vanilla game. I lost a Support trooper in just the third mission. She took a hit from a Sectoid which did a lot of damage, so I pulled her back to what I thought was a safe distance (she'd already used her single Medikit on someone else). But then a dirty rotten Thin Man got on the roof of a nearby building and clobbered her from up there. I could have reloaded the mission but decided to wear the loss. I'm not going to go crazy with trying to pull off a perfect game - I'll be happy if I can just get through it :-()
It is a tough game, and there is a definite luck factor involved. Art mentioned earlier in this topic that sometimes the aliens miss with their shots and what a relief that can be. He's dead right - there have been times when I thought for sure I was going to lose a squad member but they were saved by a badly aimed shot from an enemy and lived to fight another day (after a stint in the base hospital). The opposite is true - sometimes your guys will miss even when they have a good shot at the target, but generally the better the percentage of a hit, the more likely they will hit the target. Even so, very occasionally I've had a miss even when the odds of a hit have been above 90%. Odds are odds. But of course usually a high percentage will result in a hit. Sometimes under the right conditions you can get a 100% chance of a hit. Then you'll definitely know for sure that you won't miss :-()
Various factors determine the hit chance percentage - relative elevations of firer to target, what sort of cover the target has, the angle of the shot in respect to the target (and its cover), and the aim rating of the firing unit. The further onto an enemy's flank you can get, the better the chance of a hit and the more damage you'll do.
I haven't run up against EXALT yet, the enemy human faction. That should be interesting...
Here's the new-look squad:
[smg id=8384 align=center width=600]
It's early days so I can only have four soldiers in the squad at this point. I like how you can choose different colours for your troops' armour in EW. I like to colour-code them in primaries to represent the four different classes they belong to, as seen here, so that they stand out more clearly on the battlefield, but you can colour them according to any criteria that takes your fancy - blue for boys and pink for girls for example, if you're so inclined :-() There are 32 colour choices apart from the default, plenty to choose from. You can also give them different types of caps or helmets (including Fedoras ????) or leave them bare-headed and change the style/colour of their hair, as in the vanilla game. Plenty of choices there, too. And of course you can still customise their heads, skin colours and ethnicities, and in the case of male soldiers, give them different styles of facial hair (or none). I chose this type of helmet as it seems to look better with this early armour style (hey, got to stay fashion-conscious). When I get to upgrade their armour I'll give them helmets that better reflect the higher tech level represented. The squad members don't all have to have the same hat/helmet style, they can be fitted out individually. The style of head covering you choose has no bearing on their defensive strength, it's there purely for the fun of it.
Great game, XCOM. It's very challenging but still winnable, on the easier settings, anyway :-() I hate to think what the highest difficulty level is like - they probably don't call it "impossible" for nothing :-() It's not really impossible, just extremely difficult, and I suspect that if the luck factor isn't often in your favour, it could nigh be impossible.
My fave turn-based strategy game is still Civ V, but XCOM runs a very close second :-X
:-X :-D