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Tantrika
Miss Ann Thrope
Registered: 03/26/12
Posts: 17,138
Loc: Lashed to the pyre
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Re: Xcom 2 [Re: Cj-B]
#23143064 - 04/22/16 01:03 AM (7 years, 11 months ago) |
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Cj-B said: Rule of thumb for new players. More damage early-game >>>> better armor. Killing enemies in 1 shot will save you 10x more often than a single extra health point or two. ...
Would like to come back and +1 this point -- more armour increases the likelihood that if someone takes damage they survive gravely wounded, but increases to damage can make it more likely that the squad survives unharmed. Better to kill before the Aliens can fight back than weather the brutality.
As another tidbit, having a hacking protocol Specialist on the team can be a life saver. Being able to override any Sectopod that shows up before it can start attacking can be an enormous advantage. Every successful hack a Specialist makes seems to level up their skill, so hack early and hack often.
Would like to say, really like how different skillsets can synergize later in the game -- had a U.F.O. ground my ship earlier tonight and had to fight the waves off, but rather than battle to the pillar I just sent a Ranger with Phantom over in stealth and then gunned it down from over by my own platform with my Sharpshooter on Squadsight.
Also, screenshot spam while I am here.
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daz01
Learning
Registered: 09/30/10
Posts: 4,652
Loc: Scotland
Last seen: 8 hours, 59 minutes
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I just picked this up today! It's so fucking fun!
I started the game on Legend difficulty (the second hardest) thinking I would manage but, I feel I got a very very hard starter mission on my first play-through (if the missions are random? not sure) and could not be bothered trying to finish it, so I went to the third hardest and I have been having soooo much fun! The game seems to have so much depth and variety, with being able to find different loot and different upgrades, etc. The difficulty is a perfect mix, with the auto saves and manual saving very handy. If you mess up, you can go back 1 minute and do it all over again, perfecting your strat!
The game is slightly buggy, though. I am getting alot of bugs and glitches, mainly visual where enemies and me freeze up, and you just here sounds but see no graphics updating then it all suddenly updates. I played a straight 6 hours since I bought it... 6 hours ago
-------------------- Pain is temporary. It may last for a minute or an hour or a day or even a year but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it will last forever.
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Cj-B
All the same...I saw it first.
Registered: 07/16/11
Posts: 4,479
Loc: The Library of Babel
Last seen: 4 years, 2 months
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Quote:
SweetLeafSamadhi said:
Quote:
Cj-B said: Rule of thumb for new players. More damage early-game >>>> better armor. Killing enemies in 1 shot will save you 10x more often than a single extra health point or two. ...
Would like to come back and +1 this point -- more armour increases the likelihood that if someone takes damage they survive gravely wounded, but increases to damage can make it more likely that the squad survives unharmed. Better to kill before the Aliens can fight back than weather the brutality.
As another tidbit, having a hacking protocol Specialist on the team can be a life saver. Being able to override any Sectopod that shows up before it can start attacking can be an enormous advantage. Every successful hack a Specialist makes seems to level up their skill, so hack early and hack often.
Would like to say, really like how different skillsets can synergize later in the game -- had a U.F.O. ground my ship earlier tonight and had to fight the waves off, but rather than battle to the pillar I just sent a Ranger with Phantom over in stealth and then gunned it down from over by my own platform with my Sharpshooter on Squadsight.
Also, screenshot spam while I am here.
You can also boost a specialists hacking ability by like 30 points by providing them with a Skulljack...which early game is fucking amazing. Should also note that a specialist is a godsend on those missions where you have to hack a computer within --- turns because you can do LOS hacking rather than needing to be immediately next to it. I usually roll with 2 grenadiers. Having 2 grenade launcher shots with significantly increased damage/range/cover destruction is soooooooooooo amazingly useful. I like to play fairly aggressively so being able to wipe out whole pods of aliens with a single shot from 1 soldier (or heavily damage at least 2 of them while destroying their cover so they can be mopped up by the rest of my squad) is a godsend.
By end-game I usually have my sharpshooters, specialists, psi operatives, and rangers outfitted with wraith armor (the grappling hook provides insane range (Sharpshooter straight to the highest roof for his first move to provide squadsight overwatch anyone?) + doesn't use a move + is reusable every few turns) while my grenadiers are outfitted with W.A.R armor for the heavy weapons...usually 1 blaster launcher and 1 shredstorm cannon per squad. Sometimes for missions I know will be tougher I'll swap one of my specialist's wraith armor out for a set of WAR armor cuz that third heavy weapon provides some serious firepower to one of the generally weaker damage dealing classes.
Oh, and as ever. Psi is MASSIVELY OVERPOWERED. Domination + Stasis + Rift + Null Lance + Soulfire (which is guaranteed damage AND heals you), + Insanity. I almost never run more than one because the game becomes simply way too easy if you do.
-------------------- Steam - Sufficient Dakka - http://steamcommunity.com/id/boidsandtoitles 3DS Friend Code 1994-0764-2796
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Tantrika
Miss Ann Thrope
Registered: 03/26/12
Posts: 17,138
Loc: Lashed to the pyre
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Re: Xcom 2 [Re: Cj-B]
#23144207 - 04/22/16 12:26 PM (7 years, 11 months ago) |
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daz01 said: ... The game is slightly buggy, though. I am getting alot of bugs and glitches, mainly visual where enemies and me freeze up, and you just here sounds but see no graphics updating then it all suddenly updates. I played a straight 6 hours since I bought it... 6 hours ago
The longer I play the more I encounter visual bugs, it is particularly prevalent with Archons and Chrysalids triggering Overwatch. Not sure if it is how they move or what, but it will frequently break my camera and not show the animations for the rest of the enemy turn. It was comical to me the first time I ran into a Gatekeeper though, because it came out of the portal and triggered my last Overwatch, then the camera bugged out and I could not see the enemy turn but heard horrible sounds like my squad had just been blown up. Instead, the Gatekeeper had been poisoned at the end of my turn and the poison tick procced the Execution bonus from my gun mod and it had exploded.
Quote:
Cj-B said: You can also boost a specialists hacking ability by like 30 points by providing them with a Skulljack...which early game is fucking amazing. ...
Holy shit, thanks so much for this. Never caught on that the Skulljack does that, but this should be an enormous help early on in my next campaign when I try an Ironman run.
Going to need to do better base management the next time around as well, I got around to the Psi lab late and did not start having operatives until I was already onto Plasma/Beam weapons, then was kind of blown away by their ability to run the field. Do like how Mind Control plays against organics and hacking plays against robots though, it is a nice variation to the CC classes.
As an aside, really enjoy the visual effects on the laser weapons.
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daz01
Learning
Registered: 09/30/10
Posts: 4,652
Loc: Scotland
Last seen: 8 hours, 59 minutes
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I got a game-breaking bug yesterday. My specialist disarmed a bomb in a truck and after it was disarmed, he was STUCK in the back of the truck. This caused me to die and lose. I had to re-load a new save, luckily it auto-saves and I finished it off.
-------------------- Pain is temporary. It may last for a minute or an hour or a day or even a year but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it will last forever.
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Cj-B
All the same...I saw it first.
Registered: 07/16/11
Posts: 4,479
Loc: The Library of Babel
Last seen: 4 years, 2 months
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Quote:
SweetLeafSamadhi said:
Quote:
Cj-B said: You can also boost a specialists hacking ability by like 30 points by providing them with a Skulljack...which early game is fucking amazing. ...
Holy shit, thanks so much for this. Never caught on that the Skulljack does that, but this should be an enormous help early on in my next campaign when I try an Ironman run.
Going to need to do better base management the next time around as well, I got around to the Psi lab late and did not start having operatives until I was already onto Plasma/Beam weapons, then was kind of blown away by their ability to run the field. Do like how Mind Control plays against organics and hacking plays against robots though, it is a nice variation to the CC classes.
Skulljack is also an insta-kill on any enemy you can target with it where the strike connects which is pretty damn useful given the specialist's damage output is markedly lower than every other classes. Combine it with wraith armor and you can pull off an instakill from pretty damn far away with the added movement tiles.
Psi is overall vastly more combat effective though. When they're maxed out they're nearly unstoppable. Soulfire does 3-4 (later 5-7) guaranteed damage against organics that also heals you from pretty long ranges. Fuse lets you detonate explosives enemies are carrying to provide a bit of damage (and more importantly destroying their cover), Insanity causes a small amount of guaranteed damage while also causing temp mind control, panic, or berserk. Null Lance has an exceedingly long range and can easily be used to snipe and oneshot enemies from far away. You get straight up immunity to fire, acid, poison, and explosive damage. You make negative mental effects on any squadmates within a certain distance impossible. You get a massive AOE damage ability in Rift that also has a chance to cause any of Insanity's effects (effectively giving you 3 possible mind control abilities, though only 1 is perma mind control) and then you get Domination, the perma mind control...and literally ALL of these except for Domination are either passive abilities or cool-down.
-------------------- Steam - Sufficient Dakka - http://steamcommunity.com/id/boidsandtoitles 3DS Friend Code 1994-0764-2796
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Tantrika
Miss Ann Thrope
Registered: 03/26/12
Posts: 17,138
Loc: Lashed to the pyre
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Re: Xcom 2 [Re: Cj-B]
#23147217 - 04/23/16 12:58 PM (7 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
Cj-B said:
Quote:
SweetLeafSamadhi said:
Quote:
Cj-B said: You can also boost a specialists hacking ability by like 30 points by providing them with a Skulljack...which early game is fucking amazing. ...
Holy shit, thanks so much for this. Never caught on that the Skulljack does that, but this should be an enormous help early on in my next campaign when I try an Ironman run.
Going to need to do better base management the next time around as well, I got around to the Psi lab late and did not start having operatives until I was already onto Plasma/Beam weapons, then was kind of blown away by their ability to run the field. Do like how Mind Control plays against organics and hacking plays against robots though, it is a nice variation to the CC classes.
Skulljack is also an insta-kill on any enemy you can target with it where the strike connects which is pretty damn useful given the specialist's damage output is markedly lower than every other classes. Combine it with wraith armor and you can pull off an instakill from pretty damn far away with the added movement tiles.
Psi is overall vastly more combat effective though. When they're maxed out they're nearly unstoppable. Soulfire does 3-4 (later 5-7) guaranteed damage against organics that also heals you from pretty long ranges. Fuse lets you detonate explosives enemies are carrying to provide a bit of damage (and more importantly destroying their cover), Insanity causes a small amount of guaranteed damage while also causing temp mind control, panic, or berserk. Null Lance has an exceedingly long range and can easily be used to snipe and oneshot enemies from far away. You get straight up immunity to fire, acid, poison, and explosive damage. You make negative mental effects on any squadmates within a certain distance impossible. You get a massive AOE damage ability in Rift that also has a chance to cause any of Insanity's effects (effectively giving you 3 possible mind control abilities, though only 1 is perma mind control) and then you get Domination, the perma mind control...and literally ALL of these except for Domination are either passive abilities or cool-down.
The Skulljack is a creative idea for adding more damage to Specialists; does it count as an attack though, or can the Specialist still automatically enter Overwatch for double move afterward?
One of the other factors that increases the appeal of Psi to me is that the organics are typically more of a pain to deal with than robotics. Aside from Sectopods, robotics do not really scare me. MECs are kind of chumpy, and Andromedons even start out as Organic on their first bar.
Generally now, if a mission does not tell me there is going to be a Sectopod on the field, I drop my Haywire Specialist out so she is ready to go when I need her on a later mission.
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Cj-B
All the same...I saw it first.
Registered: 07/16/11
Posts: 4,479
Loc: The Library of Babel
Last seen: 4 years, 2 months
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Quote:
SweetLeafSamadhi said:
The Skulljack is a creative idea for adding more damage to Specialists; does it count as an attack though, or can the Specialist still automatically enter Overwatch for double move afterward?
One of the other factors that increases the appeal of Psi to me is that the organics are typically more of a pain to deal with than robotics. Aside from Sectopods, robotics do not really scare me. MECs are kind of chumpy, and Andromedons even start out as Organic on their first bar.
Generally now, if a mission does not tell me there is going to be a Sectopod on the field, I drop my Haywire Specialist out so she is ready to go when I need her on a later mission.
Hmm...I'm actually not certain off the top of my head if they'll still automatically go to overwatch after skulljacking. I haven't played in a couple weeks.
Personally I usually use robots as disposable 'meat'shields+recon . I'll hack them and send them right in the middle of a pack of enemies to kill what they can and soak up enemy fire while triggering any pods I haven't seen yet. Andromedons are fantastic for this since you can use the psi mind-control while they're still alive and then immediately drone hack them once they finally die and change over to robotics, they just soak up massive amounts of fire, have a strong physical attack and I think their plasma rifle does like 7-9 damage. Combine with squadsight overwatch via sharpshooter on a roof and maybe a concealed ranger carefully weaving around to flank and you've got yourself the makings of a bloodbath. OR, for the black site missions since they usually have turrets set up on the building, I like to hack those first since they tend to reveal a fuckload of aliens at once and because the turret is generally behind them they'll scatter away from it, leaving themselves wide open for an overwatch crossfire
-------------------- Steam - Sufficient Dakka - http://steamcommunity.com/id/boidsandtoitles 3DS Friend Code 1994-0764-2796
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ReposadoXochipilli
Here, there, inbetween
Registered: 08/30/05
Posts: 7,501
Loc: Sand and sunshine
Last seen: 1 month, 17 days
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Re: Xcom 2 [Re: Cj-B]
#23152982 - 04/25/16 11:01 AM (7 years, 10 months ago) |
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Pretty sure it counts as an attack.
Been taking a break from xcom, loaded up some age of wonders again, the two kind of have a similar tactics on the battle front but fantasy.
I started dark souls but still learning the controls decently.
Going to do xcom again at some point, fun length of game were you can do it in bite sized chunks.
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ReposadoXochipilli
Here, there, inbetween
Registered: 08/30/05
Posts: 7,501
Loc: Sand and sunshine
Last seen: 1 month, 17 days
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Bumping this due to the eye candy.
If anyone doesn't know the long war 2 mod was recently patched and it seems really fun. Lots of new mission types and dynamics plus it seems pretty much bug free so far.
Well worth the time if you liked the vanilla, its like an expansion.
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