Support NeoGAF

[Sinh_Magnus]

That avenger assault led by the assassin was something else. Much better than the simple avenger defense missions. Probably the most intense moment yet in my campaign along with an horde plus warlock skirmish.

All my soldiers manage to survive, but things do look grim. I only have access to one of four facilities, the avenger project is two steps away for being completed, chosen are stronger than ever and they keep reducing my income. After the defense I only have the minimum soldiers available, all others are gravely wounded. And I'm playing on ironman+commander, so I can't go back and every choice I make feels definite.

Probably what would kill my campaing at this point is the low income. I can already purchase laser assault rifles and in a few days I will have access to the third tier armour, but they aren't cheap and with an income of 67$ I really feel caught between a rock and a hard place.

 

[Jintor]

God I want to go home and play so damn badly

 

[Royal_Phalanx]

Got any advice for how to get to the end game? My first campaign is a bust, I've just lost too many people and the enemies are getting much stronger. I only have Mag weapons and Andromedons showed up. I restarted.

 

[Tacitus_]

Got any advice for how to get to the end game? My first campaign is a bust, I've just lost too many people and the enemies are getting much stronger. I only have Mag weapons and Andromedons showed up. I restarted.

Lose less people. You can take Andromedons on with mag weapons if your squad is tooled for it - bring anti-armour, anti-robotics and some crowd control. I always bring all those anyway unless I know for certain what enemies there will be.

 

[Royal_Phalanx]

Lose less people. You can take Andromedons on with mag weapons if your squad is tooled for it - bring anti-armour, anti-robotics and some crowd control. I always bring all those anyway unless I know for certain what enemies there will be.

Can't really guarantee that, this is XCOM after all lol

 

[LurkerPrime]

A healthy dose of grenades or shredding attacks deal with Andromedons in short order, provided you're not ambushed by one. If you have the Shadow Chamber up it will give you an idea of what you're facing, which makes preparation easier.

But you know, the thing that's saved my WotC campaign time and again are two Specialists, bonded to each other. They're my most experienced troops, specialising in opposite sides of their skill trees, and thoroughly boosted through Covert action bonuses. Their abilities of healing and dealing with tanky machines are invaluable in the toughest missions--they always have a tool worth using.

I guess, in terms that can actually help, I'd say try to preserve soldiers that actually matter. If a mission is going south and seems hopeless--evac and let those soldiers learn from the experience, and fight on another, better day.

That avenger assault led by the assassin was something else. Much better than the simple avenger defense missions. Probably the most intense moment yet in my campaign along with an horde plus warlock skirmish.

All my soldiers manage to survive, but things do look grim. I only have access to one of four facilities, the avenger project is two steps away for being completed, chosen are stronger than ever and they keep reducing my income. After the defense I only have the minimum soldiers available, all others are gravely wounded. And I'm playing on ironman+commander, so I can't go back and every choice I make feels definite.

Probably what would kill my campaing at this point is the low income. I can already purchase laser assault rifles and in a few days I will have access to the third tier armour, but they aren't cheap and with an income of 67$ I really feel caught between a rock and a hard place.

67?!

Damn... I though I had it rough with like 350.

 

[FunkyMonk]

God I want to go home and play so damn badly

I know the feeling, gotta go and do the shopping, do housework, walk the hound and spend time with the family before I can resume my playthrough. 7/8pm feels a long way away.

My Commander/Ironman playthrpugh is going pretty well, I'm in month 3/4 and have mag weapons and plated armour with elerium fesear h having just finished and my psi-lab just about to come online. I've only lost two soldiers (Damn faceless swiped the floor out from under them), have quite a few captains, stage 2 on hunting two of the chosen and I've just hit the first avatar countdown with the blacksite and skulljack still available to counter it.

The hardest mission I've had so far was a supply raid/tag mission with the lost and the assassin turning up. I holed up in a building, mistake there, and she was just dashing in, swiping then darting out. I probably would have wiped id she didn't dash in, prep her wave attack and then target two lost rather than the majority of my squad. She promptly got two shotgun blasts at point blank leaving me with 3p or so lost to deal with. That was an intense mission!

So far I'm loving this expansion, definitely worth the cash as far as I'm concerned.

I can already purchase laser assault rifles

Are they in the base game now or are you using a mod? Or are you referring to plasma weapons? I'm not having a do, just curious/excited!

I lost a lot of good people in the Templar mission where you have to extract a scientist from the sewers. You have to defend against waves of reinforcements while waiting for the evac zone to drop. It's pretty tough. You have to make it right to the end or die trying.

I got so lucky with one of them. I decided to get out if the central killimg zone and ducked into a more defensible position. Thankfully rather than having to run the gauntlet the evac zone was right next to my troops. That could have gone very wrong!

 

[Royal_Phalanx]

A healthy dose of grenades or shredding attacks deal with Andromedons in short order, provided you're not ambushed by one. If you have the Shadow Chamber up it will give you an idea of what you're facing, which makes preparation easier.

But you know, the thing that's saved my WotC campaign time and again are two Specialists, bonded to each other. They're my most experienced troops, specialising in opposite sides of their skill trees, and thoroughly boosted through Covert action bonuses. Their abilities of healing and dealing with tanky machines are invaluable in the toughest missions--they always have a tool worth using.

I guess, in terms that can actually help, I'd say try to preserve soldiers that actually matter. If a mission is going south and seems hopeless--evac and let those soldiers learn from the experience, and fight on another, better day.

67?!

Damn... I though I had it rough with like 350.

I lost a lot of good people in the Templar mission where you have to extract a scientist from the sewers. You have to defend against waves of reinforcements while waiting for the evac zone to drop. It's pretty tough. You have to make it right to the end or die trying.

 

[Sentenza]

That avenger assault led by the assassin was something else. Much better than the simple avenger defense missions. Probably the most intense moment yet in my campaign along with an horde plus warlock skirmish.

Just had mine this night and I was amazed and almost disgusted by myself for the long string of lucky shots that made me finish it almost effortlessly.

First things first, my Reaper kept crossing enemy pods who were camping around exploding cars etc, wiping them with extreme ease with Remote Activation/claymores plus few shots/grenades.

Then just after clearing my second pod of enemies, I spotted/revealed the chosen assassin three turns in, without even trying. I was barely marching on toward the cannon and I crossed her in the first move of my turn. Which allowed me to blast her easily in the same turn with the rest of my two squads.
After that, one remote activation of my reaper on the cannon generator plus few shots of bluescreen rounds on the the cannon's generator allowed me to blast it into space, with a large number of enemies (included an annoying gatekeeper and a sectopod) who were camping around it, with a massive 32 damage area hit.

These are the moments when I regret the game doesn't have some tool to save replays of missions automatically.

All my soldiers manage to survive, but things do look grim. I only have access to one of four facilities, the avenger project is two steps away for being completed

If with the second sentence you mean "Avatar project", that sounds like plenty of room to breath, frankly.

That said, while the avatar countdown was rarely an actual threat in the vanilla game (you had to fuck up things pretty badly to come even close to ever lose a game because of it) I do get the feeling that WoTC presses you a bit more strictly, at least until you unlock covert ops that allow you to scale it back more easily.

Probably what would kill my campaing at this point is the low income. I can already purchase laser assault rifles and in a few days I will have access to the third tier armour, but they aren't cheap and with an income of 67$ I really feel caught between a rock and a hard place.

Uh... At this point in the campaign, with plasma weapons unlocked and all that, that sound very, very low. How did you get there?
Is it Legendary difficulty? I'm playing at Commander and I don't think I've ever been below 200 after the first month.

 

[LurkerPrime]

The Reaper's reduction in detection radius borders on absurd. Mine was two tiles from an Assassin that got revealed, in the same wall of cover, and she was fine. Then she shot the Assassin for 19 damage--a combination of a crit, advanced weaponry, and a close-range/Reaper weakness on her target. If it had been one point more damage, the Assassin would've died instantly. And this was during the Chosen Assault mission... thought it was gonna be anticlimactic.

It's just like, "whaaaaat?"

I lost a lot of good people in the Templar mission where you have to extract a scientist from the sewers. You have to defend against waves of reinforcements while waiting for the evac zone to drop. It's pretty tough. You have to make it right to the end or die trying.

Ah, I haven't seen that one yet. The missions with designated evac zones are tougher, for sure.

I think, then, it becomes a situation of training soldiers for that kind of mission by preserving them up to that point.

 

[Jintor]

I know the feeling, gotta go and do the shopping, do housework, walk the hound and spend time with the family before I can resume my playthrough. 7/8pm feels a long way away.

I'm in another timezone to my computer

I've just been spending all this time thinking about how I want to do the LP. I feel like I should disable all scripted content and maybe do all of that story stuff on a side run, but what do you guys think? It sounds super onerous and, well, scripted.

 

[fanboi]

Yeah, restart incoming.

Everythig feelt good then three missions in a row with shit outcome...

 

[Sinh_Magnus]

If with the second sentence you mean "Avatar project", that sounds like plenty of room to breath, frankly.

Uh... At this point in the campaign, with plasma weapons unlocked and all that, that sound very, very low. How did you get there?
Is it Legendary difficulty? I'm playing at Commander and I don't think I've ever been below 200 after the first month.

Yeah, I meant Avatar project. I haven't played anymore but It's true that after putting more thought into it the current situation with the project isn't so critical. It's just that I haven't got lucky with cover operations; I haven't seen those operations to remove progress from the project in a while.

As for the income, I'm playing at commander and I think I have only gone above 200$ once; I made the mistake to expand to another continent before dealing with the assassin, so I had like three months were the chosen kept reducing my income. In fact I have had problems to stay above 100$. I've sold many elyrium crystals in the past months to keep me afloat, along with corpses and the like.

Add to that one failed mission that led to losing a territory (a horde+plus warlock mission) were I failed to escort the VIP; I didn't know the moment you step in the "safe zone" of a LAV it disables the safe radious, so the VIP was eaten alive by the horde in the same turn.

So yeah, I will have to sell everything I can to get plasma weapons and third tier armour ASAP.

Also, that defense you made sounds amazing, I have to make a better use of my reaper.

 

[Tacitus_]

Can't really guarantee that, this is XCOM after all lol

Take less risks -> scout better -> use reapers.
Reapers are scouting gods.Their detection radius is like one square to every direction and they can take a skill that lets them stay stealthed on kill shots, not to mention all the explosive fun they can have.

 

[Sentenza]

Take less risks -> scout better -> use reapers.
Reapers are scouting gods.Their detection radius is like one square to every direction and they can take a skill that lets them stay stealthed on kill shots, not to mention all the explosive fun they can have.

The only downside of reapers is that they don't carry any extra equipment and their direct damage on hit falls behind pretty much any other class in the late game. Well, unless you have some luck with explosives.

But yeah, as scouts they would be invaluable in most missions even if they didn't attack at all. That's how good they are.

 

[Tacitus_]

The only downside of reapers is that they don't carry any extra equipment and their direct damage on hit falls behind pretty much any other class in the late game. Well, unless you have some luck with explosives.

But yeah, as scouts they would be invaluable in most missions even if they didn't attack at all. That's how good they are.

Their basic attack is kinda low, but you can take a skill that grants them bonus damage on targets wounded this turn which combined with the kill shot skill makes them great for finishing off targets. Or you can take the one that empties their entire clip to a single target if stealthing no longer matters. Double claymore can also delete an entire pod from existence outside of a few enemies - and you can do that from stealth.

 

[Sinh_Magnus]

Now, I made it sound like my situation is really bad, but I actually think the game is being fair with me; early in the game I got an UFO raid mission after reaching the second continent. That raid went extremely well, and I got a lot of alloys, crystals and cores to keep me afloat by selling or using them to develop weaponry.

I have to say, I'm enjoying a lot this expansion. The chosen and factions add a lot deep for the planning phase and the game is much better and fun thanks to it.

I still have some nitpicks, like building your base is still pretty straighforward and simple, or when you are in concealment and try to avoid enemy pods, they will still "cheat" and slyly follow your group until you can't avoid combat (so the best choice for me is always fight and not try to be solid snake).

 

[Royal_Phalanx]

Take less risks -> scout better -> use reapers.
Reapers are scouting gods.Their detection radius is like one square to every direction and they can take a skill that lets them stay stealthed on kill shots, not to mention all the explosive fun they can have.

The issue with my play is that I enter the enemy sight radius sometimes and activate new pods when I'm already fighting one. I've learned to just expect more enemies nearby at this point.

 

[Jintor]

How's Commander difficulty treating y'all?

 

[ISee]

So far very fine. Played the first couple of missions on veteran and it felt way to easy. Restarted on commander and it seems to be the perfect "welcome back, commander" difficulty to learn everything, before starting a legendary ironman playthrough.

 

[BeesEight]

Assaulting the Chosen stronghold is really fun and brutal. RIP Dragunova and high ranked shotgunner

I lost four in my assault. Honestly thought I was going to squad wipe and lose my run but Mox and a captain gunner miraculously came through at the end. This expansion is nuts. I think I've lost eleven soldiers so far. I've never had this many deaths before.

Chosen are no joke. That said her weapons are silly good so hopefully this is a turning point.

 

[Tacitus_]

The issue with my play is that I enter the enemy sight radius sometimes and activate new pods when I'm already fighting one. I've learned to just expect more enemies nearby at this point.

That's why you scout around before attempting to move up the field. And Reapers are godlike in scouting as they don't have to rely on cover to to block LOS and can just stealth around willy nilly. Rangers that stay stealthed can also be used as they were the only option before but Reapers are just so much better.
If you can't take either of the scouts, load up on mimic beacons and flashbangs and sequence your moves so that you can use one if shit hits the fan. Psiops with stasis and insanity are also useful, especially once the big aoe applies insanity and even more after it applies Rupture. Also attack specialists can pretty reliably stun mechanical units with their remote hack.

 

[Shake Appeal]

How's Commander difficulty treating y'all?

Lost my first run about five missions in, this one is going freakishly well. I'm past the black site and cruising on just about every front. Lost one soldier, a squaddie.

 

[FunkyMonk]

How's Commander difficulty treating y'all?

Fairly well so far my friend, I'm sure I have a curb stomping coming my way but for now I'm making decent progress though I am hurting for supplies and have been all game, I only managed to make the progress I outlined in my earlier post by selling alien data caches when they were paying 128 supplies for one at the black market.

How long until you're back home and can dive head first into the game?

 

[Jintor]

I fly home tomorrow evening, then you don't have to put up with my whining about not being able to play the game and will have to put up with my whining about not being able to be good at the game

Any vets from my old lps here besides frag, poodle and erheller? I need a Bradford, shen and tygen equiv for names. I'd ask mcnum again but he doesn't seem to be active.

 

[Poodlestrike]

I lost a lot of good people in the Templar mission where you have to extract a scientist from the sewers. You have to defend against waves of reinforcements while waiting for the evac zone to drop. It's pretty tough. You have to make it right to the end or die trying.

That one was tricky as HELL. I got it super early, when standard grenades were still enough to wipe out most of a pod, or I'd have been dog chow.

 

[Darkwater]

Nope, apparently they rewrote significant parts of the code base. I linked something in the op.

Apologies, I scanned the OP but missed that part. Thank you.

Bummer.

 

[RedlineRonin]

Does anyone know if there's info about how the balanced the original DLCs? I'm still having issues getting this stuff to integrate and I thought one of the things I read was they balanced rulers so they didn't get a turn for every move you take. That certainly isn't true in my game so I'm wondering if something else is going on...

Also, I kind of just realized, but reapers are a really great addition to circumvent missions with timer stress. I threw a mobility pcs on mine and plus three tiles on top of already ridiculous range let's you move very quickly and carefully simultaneously towards your objective

 

[NumberThree]

Is there a way to see if an enemy pod is going to be activated when I can already see them but I'm moving with a character that isn't concealed? I had the location scout sitrep on a mission and that got a bit confusing.

Also the Chosen Warlock came in during the same mission and he just kept running around a tree at the spawn location until I'd killed all the other enemies..

I'm enjoying the changes so far, but the first dark event in my game was the one where the Lost are in every mission and I'm already getting tired of fighting them.

 

[Sinh_Magnus]

Is there a way to see if an enemy pod is going to be activated when I can already see them but I'm moving with a character that isn't concealed? I had the location scout sitrep on a mission and that got a bit confusing.

Also the Chosen Warlock came in during the same mission and he just kept running around a tree at the spawn location until I'd killed all the other enemies..

I'm enjoying the changes so far, but the first dark event in my game was the one where the Lost are in every mission and I'm already getting tired of fighting them.

There's a mod called "Gotcha again!" that adds indicators such as one that is useful for the case you are mentioning: mind you, it only adds an indicator depending on the visible enemies; if there is one enemy from the pod you aren't seeing, there won't be any indicator at all, so you can still activate it without wanting. That's at least how it has worked for me.

Edit: Warlock, at least for me, usually avoids fighting in the front and makes use of minions abilities.

 

[AlterOdin]

Currently playing with a controller (X1), had no problem, until now.

Seems when a bonding level is upgraded (flashing hand icon above soldiers in one of the solider rooms) I can't selected it. Tried with mouse, and could selected it, seems like quite the oversight.

Although haven't built the training room the level up requires, can one selected if from there?

Anybody else had similar issues with a gamepad?

 

[CrichtonKicks]

I lost four in my assault. Honestly thought I was going to squad wipe and lose my run but Mox and a captain gunner miraculously came through at the end. This expansion is nuts. I think I've lost eleven soldiers so far. I've never had this many deaths before.

Chosen are no joke. That said her weapons are silly good so hopefully this is a turning point.

Do you have to research them to use them? I have the Assassin weapons in my inventory but they don't show up in the equip screen.

Is there a way to see if an enemy pod is going to be activated when I can already see them but I'm moving with a character that isn't concealed? I had the location scout sitrep on a mission and that got a bit confusing.

Get the Gotcha Again mod. It will show you what you are asking for. Make sure to get the WOTC version.

Currently playing with a controller (X1), had no problem, until now.

Seems when a bonding level is upgraded (flashing hand icon above soldiers in one of the solider rooms) I can't selected it. Tried with mouse, and could selected it, seems like quite the oversight.

Although haven't built the training room the level up requires, can one selected if from there?

Anybody else had similar issues with a gamepad?

Just go to the Training Room. It will have an action to upgrade the bond.

 

[CrichtonKicks]

DP

 

[Grimsen]

Currently playing with a controller (X1), had no problem, until now.

Seems when a bonding level is upgraded (flashing hand icon above soldiers in one of the solider rooms) I can't selected it. Tried with mouse, and could selected it, seems like quite the oversight.

Although haven't built the training room the level up requires, can one selected if from there?

Anybody else had similar issues with a gamepad?

Had the same issue this morning. Didn't think to use the keyboard lol. Thanks for the tip

 

[NumberThree]

There's a mod called "Gotcha again!" that adds indicators such as one that is useful for the case you are mentioning: mind you, it only adds an indicator depending on the visible enemies; if there is one enemy from the pod you aren't seeing, there won't be any indicator at all, so you can still activate it without wanting. That's at least how it has worked for me.

Edit: Warlock, at least for me, usually avoids fighting in the front and makes use of minions abilities.

Get the Gotcha Again mod. It will show you what you are asking for. Make sure to get the WOTC version.

Cool, thanks!

 

[Tacitus_]

Is there a way to see if an enemy pod is going to be activated when I can already see them but I'm moving with a character that isn't concealed? I had the location scout sitrep on a mission and that got a bit confusing.

Keep an eye on the "can I shoot them from here icon". It shows up on their healthbars, or you can hold down alt to see it in the main UI (also shows if the position has a flanking shot!) or turn it on permanently from the options menu.
If you can shoot at them from any square you're moving through, they can see you. It is a bit cumbersome if you're trying to plot a specific course, but it is good for checking general ranges.

 

[AlterOdin]

Just go to the Training Room. It will have an action to upgrade the bond.

Good to know, thx.

(Although I would never known the bond needed a training room, if I had not selected with my mouse

 

[Sentenza]

Guess what?
Turns out that the Reaper's banish + Superior Extended Magazine at point blank on a Chosen's face feels PRETTY.FUCKING.GOOD.

 

[Sulik2]

Guess what?
Turns out that the Reaper's banish + Superior Extended Magazine at point blank on a Chosen's face feels PRETTY.FUCKING.GOOD.

Not as good as dropping a chosen four stories with a hand grenade from a rookie for a one shot kill.

 

[CrichtonKicks]

Good to know, thx.

(Although I would never known the bond needed a training room, if I had not selected with my mouse

I assume that this is for the second level and above of bonding? The training room is what lets that happen. You can't go beyond a level one bond without a training room.

 

[FlyinJ]

Keep an eye on the "can I shoot them from here icon". It shows up on their healthbars, or you can hold down alt to see it in the main UI (also shows if the position has a flanking shot!) or turn it on permanently from the options menu.
If you can shoot at them from any square you're moving through, they can see you. It is a bit cumbersome if you're trying to plot a specific course, but it is good for checking general ranges.

Is there a hold down alt equivalent on the controller?

 

[Sentenza]

Not as good as dropping a chosen four stories with a hand grenade from a rookie for a one shot kill.

Eh, I have to admit I've never seen that. Didn't even think they took more fall damage from a higher elevation.

Beside, there aren't four- story buildings inside the Chosen stronghold.

 

[AlterOdin]

I assume that this is for the second level and above of bonding? The training room is what lets that happen. You can't go beyond a level one bond without a training room.

Yes.

The point I was making, if you only play with a controller, there is no way of knowing that the upgrade required a training room (maybe in the description of the room), as you can't selected the bond-hand-icon in a room.

But all is good, now that I know it can be selected from the training room (have not built one yet) and don't have to go through the bond-hand-icon.

 

[Tacitus_]

Is there a hold down alt equivalent on the controller?

Dunno, but you can always turn them on permanently from the options menu. Target Preview something in the gameplay options IIRC.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Guess what?
Turns out that the Reaper's banish + Superior Extended Magazine at point blank on a Chosen's face feels PRETTY.FUCKING.GOOD.

Not as good as dropping a chosen four stories with a hand grenade from a rookie for a one shot kill.

Had my own "Feels good" moment just now.

Y'know repeaters, with their instant kill chance? They trigger on alien rulers. Second time I shot her, the Berserker Queen fell over and died. It... felt good.

Turns out they're very good on SPARKs. (And Reapers with Banish, no doubt.)

 

[RedlineRonin]

Retribution and Bladestorm have been a godsend on the berserker ruler. Esp retribution. Once you have the ionic jack, it's pretty much a stun lock.

 

[Sinh_Magnus]

These resistance fighters do know how to fight (and aim). They almost didn't need me to defend their camp.

 

[TC McQueen]

Here's some fun news for everyone - the WOTC SDK doesn't recognize WOTC specific code! Better hope those mods you're waiting on updates for don't need to use any of that.

 

[FlyinJ]

Dunno, but you can always turn them on permanently from the options menu. Target Preview something in the gameplay options IIRC.

Holy crap this is a Game Changer! Has this option been in past XComs? Its crazy that it isn't on as default.

I am confused about something on the Geoscape. So, I started the campaign on the east coast. I then made my first contact with the rebels in Mexico. But for some reason it says I'm maxed out on contacts at 3/3. On the east coast, where I started, there is no radio tower, just a reaper hq that I can scan for intel. In Mexico there is a radio tower I can improve. That's it. Why does it say I have 3 contacts?

 

[Slackbladder]

These resistance fighters do know how to fight (and aim). They almost didn't need me to defend their camp.

There's a mod that "fixes" that. Turns out they have ridiculously high aim, like 95 so the mod drops to 80-ish I think but gives them a tad more damage to make them equal to your squads damage. But it has to be balanced well otherwise they'll all get wiped out pretty quick.