Xcom 2

[Pleb]

How the fuck did I get a promotion? :D

[Disco]

Grenades eh? Nothing can go wrong here.

[ItalAussie]

Haven't died yet. Calling it a win.

[Ian]

How the fuck did I get a promotion? :D

Pure heroics. Shot an alien right in the noggin, you did.


Where was I? :(

So with Long War 2 you have this infiltration business I've already mentioned, and you can set this up for multiple missions at a time. So no sooner had I done that one than another infiltration was finished (or rumbled, I guess, as it only got to 80% or so) and I went into the mission. So you've got multiple squads prepped for a mission at a time presumably. And the higher your infiltration counter before you're forced to launch it the less enemies you should have to face.

So I've just done said second mission.

Vowels is promoted to Lance Corporal and will be going down the hero-medic route I had him as last time, hopefully.

Mahow also becomes a Lance Corporal. Now his class gets a gizmo that can stun enemies, so for his skill up I've upgraded it so that even if he misses it'll still disorient them. Now Mahow had a fairly glorious end to the mission. Mike had got himself shot spectacularly in the back by an alien wrong'un and he was seconds from bleeding out when Mahow picked him up, slung him over his shoulder, climbs a drainpipe and gets to the rooftop evacuation point, getting Mike airlifted out. This was the last turn where this could have happened or Mike would have bled out and died.

it wasn't all bad for Mike though, he managed three kills before he had to get Mahow on white knight duty and was promoted to technical. That's like Ital, so he'll have rockets and flamethrowers.

Ital gets to Lance Corporal and I improve the accuracy of his rockets because fuck me, by default you may as well fire those bastards with your eyes closed. Baz gets his first promotion and becomes a gunner. He also copped a sore one and will be out for about a month. It wasn't a good day for the Baz / Mike tag team.

Old Man Welby joins the others in Lance Corporalhood and gets the Death From Above skill. Pew pew!

Patje doesn't die on his (her) first mission this time and becomes a specialist, which means he has a little robo-chum and hacks and stuff.

And lastly Shindig becomes a Shinobi, which I suppose makes sense given they share some letters. Him and Cord will hopefully become murderous swordbros.

I must say that in Long War 2 shit escalates really quickly. You can quite easily find yourself swamped by enemies even if you're being relatively cautious. They have done other things to balance that out (grenades seem to be on cooldowns rather than one-and-down, you have more soldiers of your own,in your squads to start with, I'm sure others will become apparent) but it's really tricky. I'll be interested to see how grindy I end up finding it and whether I end up completing this save and / or how many TTHers die really quite soon.

It's all incredibly polished though and of all the new classes, weapons, mechanics, etc. there's nothing I've seen yet that's seemed to be of a lesser quality than the stuff Firaxis made.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Eat shit, Cord.

I'm a real hero.

Also, I can't wait to play this mod possibly tomorrow.

Only DLC worth it is Shen's Last Gift?

[Ian]

I didn't buy the others because I wasn't bothered enough for the price, whereas I am more than happy to pay for big robots. The Alien Hunters sounded nightmarish and the cosmetic stuff I'd be all over if it were about £2.

[Shindig]

Okay, Shinobi's on my list of alternative usernames. Rad.

[hfswjyr]

Pleb died on the very first mission. :face: Despite Baz and Vowels attempting to drag his sorry carcass out of there.

This doesn't sound like something I would do, especially for Pleb =)

Happy to medic the fuck out of this team.

[Townsend]

Why no Townsend :(. Any custom classes in use Welbz?

[Ian]

You'll be next, just didn't have enough rookies to fit everybody in.

No custom classes other than what Long War adds and my robots once I get to those missions. Decided to trust LW for now and not go mental with the mods.

[Patje]

Patje doesn't die on his (her) first mission this time and becomes a specialist, which means he has a little robo-chum and hacks and stuff.

YAAAAY \o/

Can I name my little robo-chum "Byte"?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Towns 'The Downs' End.

Special skill, chimping out.

[Ian]

YAAAAY \o/

Can I name my little robo-chum "Byte"?

Er, if you like. I don't think I can actually name it but if you'd like to consider him / her / it to be called Byte you're more than welcome.

[Ian]

Also:
http://www.pcgamer.com/long-war-2-guide/

Jesus Christ I've been massively underthinking this. Thank goodness I'm only two missions in.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I just played the opening mission before I get balls deep into Long War (thanks for that link btw) and the rustiness is real.

It's also nice to see that percentages still mean shit.

I put 3 in good positions and on overwatch to deal with the sectoid. First one misses, second gets a graze and the third only does like 3 damage. Glorious.

[Townsend]

Towns 'The Downs' End.

Special skill, chimping out.

At least I have a job rather than being a contemptible sponge.

Glad to hear Welby. You should do one of these let's play things, I don't know if you have a velvet voice but I'm sure you have the wit to entertain us.

I'm using a whole raft of extra mods on mine. Also made some of my own custom classes which are on the workshop and also rather scarily among the ones recommended by Haystacks Horace...:uhoh: high praise indeed. Got a new class pack in the works for when War of the Chosen is released also.

[Ian]

I did consider doing some recorded missions in full but I didn't know how easy that would be without paying for software. I don't have Disco's smooth tones, as anybody who's multiplayered with me can attest.

[Ian]

That mission I did there was fucking flawless. partly through stuff I've already learned and partly because of a nifty trick I picked up during that mission.
Firstly, now I know how infiltration works! And that sometimes you just need to ignore a mission, even if the rewards look tempting.

Secondly, a strategy. So I had Cord (a fast-moving Shinobi) in my squad where I had to get to a data cache and collect it. The map was essentially three big buildings. One further away, where the cache was, one in the middle, and the one I started behind. I spied a patrol making my way between the first two but managed to avoid it. When sizing up the gap between the second and the third I had a problem. There was another small patrol and some civilians who'd give the game away if they saw me, and the odds of my getting all eight of my guys across this gap without being spotted and ending up in a favourable position seemed very slim. However, Cord could make a circuitous trip around a big truck, behind the civilians and into the cache building in just a couple of turns I could get the rest of my guys set up across various levels of the middle building (rooftop, ledges, ground floor, both inside and out) so I'd have a good point to adapt to any attacks without being all clumped together in a mess waiting to happen.

My first bit of good luck was that the data cache building was empty, so Cord could open the door to it and slip inside and get the objective, meanwhile the patrols got roughly into the middle of the gap between him and the rest of the team. The second bit of luck also taught me something (that I may or may not have forgotten from the base game.) When I activated the cache with Cord it alerted all the enemies to me despite me not being in their line of sight. So they started moving but I had the rest of the gang on overwatch so they started dishing out the damage, a couple of other dudes I was oblivious to came inside with Cord (who soon exited the building to attack shit with his sword) and while I had some luck in the ensuing gunfight I got them mopped up without too much drama and gave me some ideas for strategies on future missions.

It also totally made me understand how with a Shinobi there are certain mission types you could totally solo, like exfiltrating VIPs. And I may well try that in future, because those would make your initial infiltration an absolute doddle, meaning you had less enemies to avoid and if you were careful you could probably breeze through.

Not gonna lie though, if / when I try one of them I'm totally going to savescum it the first time.

Anyway.... Promotions!
Cord is up to Corporal, and gains an ability that lets him (at a percentage chance, I assume) parry melee attacks and counter with his sword. And also makes him more dodgy. In every sense.
Sama gets his first promotion and also becomes a swordy, Shinobi type.
Randrew gets his first leg up too and is a Ranger, meaning he's a rifleman but with a sawn-off shotgun too.
P_3 makes Lance Corporal and gets an ability to make a shot that ignores two sets of armor. That could really help when it comes to clearing out weaker foes.
Horace (is he dead?) is promoted to sharpshooter duties.
Phonics is yet another Lance Corporal. I've improved his explosiveyness and given him a chance to start destroying cover.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Hmmm, I think I've just sent my WHOLE SQUAD out on infiltrations thinking that they were normal missions :\

[Ian]

They are, you just need to decide carefully how you're going to approach missions (once you've got at least a promotion on enough people to have classes and the associated tactical decisions) and make sure you can complete the infiltration.

So over on the right hand side you've got the time remaining to launch the mission in days and hours and then as you build your squad you'll see your infiltration time change. If it's less than the time remaining your infiltration will be 100% complete and the enemy will be weaker. The lower the percentage complete, the stronger they'll be. So especially early doors any mission where you can't complete infiltration will be a big risk, potentially.

[Townsend]

My main tips would be:

Build a lab early and don't turn your nose up at the basic research project. When your in for the long haul these early investments pay off.

Don't bother putting your reaistance members on supplies until you've assigned a soldier to the region and cleared out the faceless who will otherwise steal a %. Keep the rebels tasked on Intel and you will detect missions earlier giving more time to infiltrate.

[Ian]

Yeah, I'm mostly going for the intel at the moment. Might have a look at basic research soon.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Did a mission (was about 88% or so infiltrated) and everything was going great.

Then, when I was a turn away from EVACing everyone (I had done about half or so, included the 3 I rescued) and bastard reinforcements turned up.

I did have a hearty lol at a sectoid mind controlling one of my guys then the aliens took a turn to try and kill him. After failing they sent him to a soldier who was just outside the EVAC zone and made him drop a grenade at their feet.

They went out, in pieces, together.

[Ian]

Timing your evac flare is something else I'm learning to worry about quickly, and again I can't remember if it works differently to the base game. Did it have a timer originally?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

The flare? I don't believe so.

If it was a set area it was timed.

I also downloaded the true concealment thing which is boss.

Timers don't start until you're discovered.

[Ian]

I considered getting that one It would certainly turn the opening of missions into a more pure stealth thing.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdTRWBkfxfM

Amazing.

[phonics]

I did consider doing some recorded missions in full but I didn't know how easy that would be without paying for software. I don't have Disco's smooth tones, as anybody who's multiplayered with me can attest.

Use this: https://obsproject.com/download

It's an absolute piece of piss.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://i.imgur.com/wjZQKVG.jpg

Complete with red tomato and green pepper themed gear.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://i.imgur.com/gfGZIRl.jpg

Poor William.

Also, I absolutely love 'Fleche'.

[Disco]

I have a link to an easy setup guide as well if you need it Webly.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Don't ask me you absolute bastard.

[Mike]

As if the Akehurst Boy's got shot :(

[Ian]

I have a link to an easy setup guide as well if you need it Webly.

That'd be grand. May give it a try.

[Baz]

In hospital in my new Arsenal top. :cool:

[Ian]

Not only is Patje still not dead, he's been promoted to allow his robot buddy ("Byte") to go and zap enemies. What a time to be alive. That sex change op did him the world of good.

Some other promotions as well but I'm only going to mention notable / interesting stuff henceforth. Everybody at least has a class now. I've got both GTS and AWC now so I can start to get some bonuses on the go.

Anyway, until if/when I decided to do anything more substantial here's a video of Ital using a flamethrower.

http://youtu.be/-8kargYSMJ4

[Pleb]

Ital :drool:

[Patje]

It's the shades Ian. They protect me.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://i.imgur.com/z69atJU.jpg

First mission higher than 'acceptable' on LW2 :cool:

Even Ainsley picked up a package.

Seriously feared that my best Shinobi was going to get fucked up. I did a fleche with him and he ended up getting flanked by 4 or 5 unseen guys including a sectoid who made him spaz out. Luckily I put the revive protocol on my specialist who removed that status and he went back to killing aliens with his sword.

[ItalAussie]

Not only is Patje still not dead, he's been promoted to allow his robot buddy ("Byte") to go and zap enemies. What a time to be alive. That sex change op did him the world of good.

Some other promotions as well but I'm only going to mention notable / interesting stuff henceforth. Everybody at least has a class now. I've got both GTS and AWC now so I can start to get some bonuses on the go.

Anyway, until if/when I decided to do anything more substantial here's a video of Ital using a flamethrower.

http://youtu.be/-8kargYSMJ4

I'm Ital, and I approved this message.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Shouldn't have gloated.

Next mission I lost 5 of the 8 I took (including Ainsley :(), largely because everyone was missing like crazy.

Sharshooters missing 75% or so shots, ugh.

[Ian]

Sir Andy Mahowry You being careful with your infiltrations? I dunno if I'll pay for it but I'm still early doors and being seriously picky.

Was thinking of doing a proper video thing this weekend but have a last-minute parental visit to deal with so that may be off the cards. :(

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Not entirely.

I was just jumping into everything. Now that I'm running low on troops I'm having to start being a bit more picky.

[Ian]

Yeah, I've rejected quite a few and the missions have, so far, been pretty forgiving because I've been on 100%+. Not that I know if your infiltration keeps getting better over 100%.

[Townsend]

Generally there is no benefit in going in to a mission with less than 100% infiltration. This is because unlike the vanilla game your soldiers will gain more experience from successful mission completion than from kills. Best way to level up your rookies is to send out lots of four man squads and infiltrate to 100% or more which will cut down the number of enemies and make completion easier. There is also little point killing all the enemies either, as the difficulty ramps up you'll be happy just getting in and out. The smaller squad size also means that the mission completion experience is divided amongst four rather than 8 or however many. At some point it will probably be too dangerous to send out small squads though but it's a good tactic early on.

You also don't get to keep the corpses from dead enemies so racking up the kill count serves little purpose. Though there are a couple mission types where you can keep the corpses and going in under infiltrated will mean more enemies and a tougher mission but more corpses at the end of it.

[Ian]

Horace (who definitely hasn't just disappeared) has removed his concealing headscarf and turned into the behatted Townsend.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/839210690292010768/37729B37B5C0E00828B2672E42FECE607F10E851/

[hfswjyr]

Sir Andy Mahowry You being careful with your infiltrations? I dunno if I'll pay for it but I'm still early doors and being seriously picky.

Was thinking of doing a proper video thing this weekend but have a last-minute parental visit to deal with so that may be off the cards. :(

You need to get your priorities straight. The human civilization is on the line here, commander.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://i.imgur.com/qq8Opnr.jpg

I wish I could 'drool' or 'cool' it but for some reason the enemies weren't moving.

It was a 200% infiltrated mission though and there was a clear path to the evac zone so I reckon I could have gone past even if they were moving.

[Yevrah]

Taken a while, but this has just caught my eye. Can I have a tldr about the thread and the game please?

[Ian]

Tl;dr the game: turn-based alien shooting.

Tl;dr the thread (or the size of it, which is why I imagine you ask): Me naming my squad after people who post in this thread. And potentially soon doing let's-play style things.

[Pleb]

How am I doing Ian?

Plebrolling some alien booty I hope.

[Ian]

You're up to Corporal now, I believe. Gonna struggle to get much more of this played until next week, I think. :moop:

[Raoul Duke]

Am I dead yet?

[Ian]

Nah, you're still there, shooting aliens in the face. You might also be a corporal.... I may soon reward you with slight de-nerdification.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I think I might have to start again.

I've been moving so slowly and the aliens have moved so fast.

Fuck viper rounds, burning grenades, mechs etc.

My squad (outside of like 5 guys) just get mashed.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Stuck at it and managed to get a bit of a break, managed to be less shit and get some luck.

Pushed through a lot of sciency stuff too which has helped and was on a good run. Just cocked up though by sending a 4 man team with average soldiers but forgot to euip new weapons/gear on them. Mission didn't last long when my fairly vanilla warriors ran into heavily outfitted advent soldiers.

[Ian]

So I thought I'd get the chance to play this tomorrow but I'm away with work tomorrow / Tuesday. Plan is some TTH Alien Resistance updates back end of next week and then a video thingy next weekend.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Started a mission, saw my first Chryssalid of this run and decided to quit.

I'm not prepared to deal with one of those bastards at 1 in the morning.

[Pleb]

I'm thinking of getting this soon.

Should I start off with Enemy Within/Unknown before jumping to 2?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I went straight into the second.

I heard that Unknown is a little dated now but it's fun for mech suits.

[Ian]

I've not actually got to the Shen's Last Gift stuff in this yet but there are robots in this if you get that DLC so you're probably as just dipping straight into 2.

Anyway, did my first mission in fucking ages and it was a near fucking disaster.

Disclaimer: it would have been an actual disaster without a reload. The game surprised me in two ways. One with another little quirk of LW2 that I was unaware of and cost me dearly, secondly my first muton surprised me by doing absurd amounts of damage. This mission felt like a massive difficulty spike even though my infiltration score was ace.

Tasked with rescuing four resistance bods (one named Haystacks Horace, because even though I rejigged my Horace as Townsend he was still in the character pool unused) from an Advent cell. Things were going swimmingly and I got to them without being detected.... when I discovered that hacking the cell will 100% of the time break concealment and alert nearby enemies to you. This was the first surprise. So after the disaster which followed and a heroic couple of reloads, I was making a dent in the alien defence force and managing to save the soldiers who went down and risked bleeding out with medkits. Mahow, Byron, Phonics. All took horrible hits and would have died a slow, unpleasant death if not for their comrades. And if not for Shindig charging into a building to take on a stun lancer and a half-smashed robot with little more than a big sword, a stern glare and a snappy haircut.

Sadly, in the melee.... Pleb died. Sorry Pleb. :(

He died trying to get to the muton holed up on the second floor of a building drawing fire for two of our VIPs, though two of those died during this firefight too.

We did, eventually, with reinforcements swooping in manage to escape with two of our VIPs, three men nursing grave wounds, Mahow traumatised and taking a hit to his Will and Pleb tragically lost.

Although....

Just days after this mission a new recruit turned up at XCOM HQ calling himself "Kid Pleb", wearing a hockey mask like the legend himself always did, and sporting a 'Death' tattoo in the great man's favoured shade of hot pink.


https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/852722580813661004/E8B10E49317A4B40DD904A6EEEA7BB1A230A4523/

Who is the mysterious stranger? is it a fan? An imitator? Pleb's long-lost baby brother, out for revenge? Did Pleb himself somehow survive the battle?? Only time will tell.

[Pleb]

At least I died trying to get two VIP out other than getting plebrolled by ailens etc.

My kid should hopefully tear the place up in future missions :drool:

[Pleb]

So Ironman mode doesn't fuck about.

I move two soldiers into a position where I feel I could flank the aliens only to be shot straight in the face and that's only the second mission :moop:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Ironman mode for your first run :D

[Ian]

I admire your balls / self-loathing, Pleb, but you don't Ironman your first run you mad bastard.

[Pleb]

:D

To be fair I've been using it as dummy runs trying to get a feel of the game. Maybe I should play the game without ironman on :sherlock:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Just lost :moop:

I thought I had managed to salvage the world though as I had just donned their Network Tower and was infiltrating a mission to fully liberate my first area as well as the Codex mission.

Edit: Rolled back a bit and completed a quick mission to counter a dark event.

[Ian]

First TTH XCOM video should be upon you tomorrow, chaps.

Done some test runs and sound quality seems okay though one of the ones seems a bit jittery. My PC doesn't run the game perfectly but I dunno if that was the issue in this case or if it was the recording software. Will play about with it some more.

[Ian]

Did a mission, recorded it.... now a bunch of my save files have corrupted. :face:

If I have to start again I'm turning off Long War. I like it but I haven't seen any of Shen's Last Gift yet and a LW2 save is, as the name implies, loooong. I don't want to burn myself out on it before the next DLC comes out.

Ugh.

[Disco]

I wondered what the multiple 'Webly is now playing...; pop-ups were, never a great sign.

[Pleb]

So now that I'm on an ACTUAL non-ironman run as suggested by you guys (:baz:) and reading up on tips on RPS and other sites I take it I should focus on getting Intel more than supplies or the other way around?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Tell me you're not doing a LW2 run first though.

[Pleb]

Nope. I'm only doing a bog standard xcom2 run with no mods etc.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Good.

[hfswjyr]

So now that I'm on an ACTUAL non-ironman run as suggested by you guys (:baz:) and reading up on tips on RPS and other sites I take it I should focus on getting Intel more than supplies or the other way around?

You'll need a balance. That's the challenge.

[Disco]

Did you get the save back Ian? I hope it's not OBS, a similar thing happened to my CK2 save but I just blamed the game because it regularly mulches everything with updates.

[Ian]

I didn't. So I've binned Long War (even though there are things I miss) and gone back to vanilla so I can have a go with Shen's robots.

There are enough reports of other people having similar issues that I'm not worried about it being OBS. Might not be Long War but I never had an issue previously and as I said, I don't want to burn myself out on the game before the DLC comes out.

I didn't even post the big video I did because I broke it into two bits and the second bit died on it's arse. :moop:

Might have another crack tonight before I watch Game of Thrones.

[Ian]

First TTH alien kill squad video.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg6TQM6KJqE

I probably pause a bit too much and interrupt myself at times but I don't loathe it too much for my first attempt at talking over me doing a thing. Sadly I lack Disco's newsreaderly voice but then those of you who've played any multiplayer stuff with me already know that. There's also a bit of glitchy wibbly jerkiness near the end where I tabbed out to check the recording but otherwise I think the quality and sound are decent, let me know if I'm wrong and something other than my voice is grating like a bitch.

This video stars: Pleb, ItalAussie, Shindig, Mike and Baz

I've also done this one, just going through who / what we've got so far:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSDhvx2obiw

Be gentle with me lads. I shall endeavour to be more interesting with practice.... and once the missions get more brutal.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Needs more Third Hard promotion.

We need new blood in the group.

[Ian]

We'll worry about hooking people with the politics chat first.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

They'll come for the politics but stay for the religious debates.

[Disco]

Getting the plug out early doors. #Engagement

[ItalAussie]

Not dead yet. That's a win.

[Shindig]

Looks like I'm using the operating table to my advantage. If I'm on the shelf, I'm surviving. Like Owen Hargreaves.

[Ian]

Not dead yet. That's a win.

You also had the highlight of shooting a dude in the face with a minigun from about two yards away.

[ItalAussie]

You also had the highlight of shooting a dude in the face with a minigun from about two yards away.

Dude had it coming.

[Disco]

I liked that Ian (even though your squad roster has a glaring omission), I feel like we should giving Mike some shit for not pulling his weight.

[Mike]

I just need training up. Though being called Mr Sniper Man and not my name has affected my moral. Plus I had to watch my brother die. :cry:

[Shindig]

There's no greater motivation. Even if it was Baz.

[Pleb]

Good to see I'm still donning procedures even as a medic :cool:

[Ian]

(even though your squad roster has a glaring omission)

I saved everybody when I built them in Long War 2 to the character pool but I think I may end up having to make people AGAIN anyway because the game tried to give me some fucking random as a recruit. :moop:

You're all there though, just as soon as I stumble across more recruits.

[Baz]

There's no greater motivation. Even if it was Baz.:stamford:

[Ian]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O822t7dOqVk&ytbChannel=ianwelby

They're BACK.

Now with 100% less death than on the last mission.

[Pleb]

"This video is private."

:sherlock:

[Ian]

Ah shite. I do that first to make sure they've uploaded properly.

Should work now.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I refuse to watch a video all the way through until I'm put into the squad.

I'm on strike!

[Disco]

Sounds like alien talk to me.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Obvious alien trick to deflect from yourself.

[Ian]

:sherlock:

[Ian]

So next mission should be a good'un and I shall record. it's a blacksite, I'm gonna have some upgraded magnetic weapon shit, there've been promotions and I'm probably gonna get hit with some sort of dreadful enemy that I'm totally not ready for. :drool:

[Disco]

I say we send the traitor Mahow in first.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I've just realised, in a mission, that I put a increase damage/reduce aim upgrade on a shinobi.

He now has no ammo whatsoever in his gun.

Glad I gave him an upgraded sword.

[Ian]

So I'm not going to recruit new people for this mission (because that would be idiotic for a variety of reasons) but I definitely will be once I have some supplies after that. Disco and Mahow shall be up first.

This will probably all happen on Tuesday or Wednesday. Which I'm a bit gutted about to be honest, I've upgraded our robot chum some more. Now he acts as high cover wherever he's standing. :drool:

[Ian]

Oh, but never mind using the big metal bastard as cover. I've also unlocked the ability for him to run up to enemies and smash their faces in.

I'm going to be crushed if the little animations for when you use this to kill an enemy aren't at least as nifty as the ones in Enemy Within.

Also, just saw this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpLcPIWqK18
Fucking hell. It sounds like it could feel like a totally different game.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Well, I just shat myself:

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/164779984966507348/2F68B24B54F61E5ADB5A47AA669F4876A05656D8/?interpolation=lanczos-none&output-format=jpeg&output-quality=95&fit=inside|637:358&composite-to%3D%2A%2C%2A%7C637%3A358&background-color=black

https://i.imgur.com/oWFraBY.jpg

CrazyBaggyIndianringneckparakeet

Genuinely had no idea it was coming and it scared the hell out of me.

[Ian]

That a Long War 2 special?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Indeed :(

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

And now I can't find the last enemy(ies).

I swear I've covered the whole map.

[Pleb]

Review codes (I think) for War of the Chosen have been released and having just seen the footage I fear I maybe fucked if I get the DLC too early.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

An exit and restart of the game sorted it.

Clear bug though as the guy who was left was in a room that I went through about 4 times.

Edit: Finally got the avatar project bar and I didn't think it was going to stop. Only 3 squares empty :\

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Long War 2 - A shinobi with a vortex sword (gives void strike which lets him teleport to enemies and fucking ignores armour) and reaper is fucking amazing.

My main guy just dropped 5 guys in one round and took a chunk out of a 6th.

Edit: Every fucking time I equip a skulljack on someone the mission includes no codex. When I forget to give it to someone at least 1 codex appears. Infuriating.

[Ian]

I will definitely give Long War 2 a go again at some point. Just worried about my stamina ahead of WotC.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Main shinobi now has 68 kills in 19 missions.

He's a fucking one man army.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Finally unlocked mec units.

My spark :wub:

[Ian]

Blacksite mission megavid.

Though sadly, in terms of entertainment value, it wasn't a colossal disaster during which I flooded the battlefield with my angry tears. Didn't realise until now that it's over a fucking hour. Unless my wittering is more entertaining than I imagine there may be some merit in skipping between the fighty bits..... and missing the bit I had to savescum because I accidentally shortcutted a grenade at my own feet (actually it missed but I was still annoyed and reloaded.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2ZN3i3cqb8&ytbChannel=ianwelby

Meanwhile I'm gonna have to hit my next site pronto because the avatar bar is still suffering despite my blacksite mission.

Disco and Mahow have now been recruited so soon they shall be appearing in videos.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Soon? ffs.

We're the two highest posters in the game thread after you.

We deserved top billing.

[Disco]

Well I think we all realise how important post count is.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Harsh on Ian, he's adding a lot here.

[Ian]

You're the first people I've actually chosen to recruit. Everybody else is who I was given at the start. If you think I'm choosing a fancier gun over you Mahow then I think we both know you should know better.

Anyway, in future if a mission is running on like that I think I'll break it down into two videos.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Turns out that a shinobi doesn't need to hack a locked door.

I was on an extract VIP mission, killed some Advent troop outside a cell and the sword cut through the wall allowing the VIP to leave.

[Disco]

Blacksite mission megavid.

Though sadly, in terms of entertainment value, it wasn't a colossal disaster during which I flooded the battlefield with my angry tears. Didn't realise until now that it's over a fucking hour. Unless my wittering is more entertaining than I imagine there may be some merit in skipping between the fighty bits..... and missing the bit I had to savescum because I accidentally shortcutted a grenade at my own feet (actually it missed but I was still annoyed and reloaded.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2ZN3i3cqb8&ytbChannel=ianwelby

Meanwhile I'm gonna have to hit my next site pronto because the avatar bar is still suffering despite my blacksite mission.

Disco and Mahow have now been recruited so soon they shall be appearing in videos.

This went far too smoothly for my liking Ian, I'm not sure TTH is ready for such competence.

[Ian]

I was really expecting it to chuck a new horrid enemy any me. Big muton or sectopod or something.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I've unlocked the final mission after finally finding a codex when I had a skulljack equipped.

I'm going to string it out though as I want to finish most of the research so I'm doing small missions still until I manage it.

[Ian]

Operation DOOM FACE.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LeCVtERTKk&ytbChannel=ianwelby

Video debut of Sir Andy Mahowry

Also featuring: Pleb , Andrew , phonics , a bigass robot and.... me!

Also preceding the off-screen death of Shindig during a mission to try and protect civilians that I didn't record. He got murdered by a berserker. :(

Coming up next time: The debuts of Disco (who has been in a mission or two but none I've recorded yet) and Cord who I've trained up as a ranger but hasn't been involved in a mission yet.

[Shindig]

I'm in a better place now. :(

[Ian]

In several better places. :(

[Ian]

Disco and Cord make their video debuts.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDm462vnEUk

If you want to see me failing to find some aliens then this is the video for you!

EDIT: Oh god, and right at the start I pronounce lieutenant the wrong way. DISASTER.

[Disco]

Seems harsh that you can't just put the robot back together, although I'm perfectly happy for it to tank damage instead of us precious meatsacks.

[Ian]

Especially given on that mission type I can collect all the loot and stuff you'd think you could at least use the remains to get a discount off your next SPARK or something. It also seems daft that I can't just immediately program the next one to have the same abilities, but okay.

[Disco]

Like in the original where as long as you'd researched the tech you could buy tanks with whatever weaponry you liked.

[Ian]

I'd even take it if it was like, "You can rebuild this advanced one for a cost but it'll take longer than building a new one" or whatever.

[Ian]

Loads of progress this afternoon. :drool: New soldiers, a second SPARK, armor upgrades.... all sorts of goodies. About to hit one of the story mission blacksites too.

[Ian]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIs5YifCeHs

Just an update one, rather than a mission. New recruits discussed, as well as new robots, are Raoul Duke and Patje.

Huzzah.

EDIT: And the video's image even shows Disco with his new hairline-covering headgear.

[Raoul Duke]

Yes Ian - I look badass and am loving the psi-ops thing. Can't wait to unleash MIND GAMES on some alien space weasels :drool:

[Disco]

Perhaps if you mentioned it less often I wouldn't be so self conscious and, maybe, the hat wouldn't be necessary. :mad:

[Ian]

:D


Yes Ian - I look badass and am loving the psi-ops thing. Can't wait to unleash MIND GAMES on some alien space weasels :drool:

They'll be ON THE ROPES.

[Patje]

I simply love my orange shades.

[Ian]

So I'm 99% certain I won't be buying War of the Chosen in the immediate future. Question is whether to plough on with Shen's Last Gift save or not. I do have two robots now....

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I have my key, won't play until the 4th though.

[Ian]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/08/29/xcom-2-war-of-the-chosen-single-turn/

Crikey.

[Ian]

Yes Ian - I look badass and am loving the psi-ops thing. Can't wait to unleash MIND GAMES on some alien space weasels :drool:

At such point as I do another video you're gonna be all over it. You've got 'Domination' now which means mind control / ultimate mind games.

[Raoul Duke]

Almost definitely getting killed the first time I step out the door :cool:

[randomlegend]

Am I dead yet?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

You cried off with a hurt head and went to have a magnesium bath.

[randomlegend]

Bringing out the new material tonight I see.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

As always I'm on the cutting edge.

I just ladle out insults.

[Ian]

Am I dead yet?

With my restart I don't think you're in this save yet. So no. Yay!

[randomlegend]

Cunt.

[Pleb]

How am I doing Ian?

[Ian]

Still the ranking officer at Colonel and healing bitches all over the place.

Gonna do a mission just now, I think.

[Ian]

Another one I probably ought to have stopped it halfway through and done a second video but whatever, I assume people are just flicking through for the bits with their named soldier anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=254&v=Sp_zmA_3TrY&ytbChannel=null

Starring: Pleb, Mike, phonics, Andrew and Raoul Duke (who I need to give a new nickname to.)

Featuring: A mistake I should probably have been punished way harder for near the start and MIND GAMES near the end.

[Ian]

Damn, I think I'm near the end of this save.

I'm gonna try and wipe out all the remaining facilities and get enough money to unlock all the guns for the final missions.

[Ian]

Fuck my life. I had missed the RPS review of WotC and just read it. He basically directly countered my biggest reason not to buy it, "They could have called this XCOM 3."

The temptation is real.

First up I need to finish this save though. Raoul Duke now has basically every psi power and he's a fucking monster. A sweet, beautiful monster.

[Raoul Duke]

Fuck my life. I had missed the RPS review of WotC and just read it. He basically directly countered my biggest reason not to buy it, "They could have called this XCOM 3."

The temptation is real.

First up I need to finish this save though. Raoul Duke now has basically every psi power and he's a fucking monster. A sweet, beautiful monster.

:drool:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Forgot just how long that final mission is.

War of the Chosen will have to wait until Monday.

[Ian]

I'm trying to resist, despite the deal GMG has for it. I'm definitely buying Divinity 2 next week to play with my mate so I should really hold off on WOTC.

Anyway, moar vids. And these ones are shorter.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSavtrZNSxU
Featuring: Raoul Duke , Sir Andy Mahowry , Disco , Patje, Migraine and a robot.

And another!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbxP8eHhzXo
Starring two robots, Duke, Randrew and Disco again, along with Mike .
Byron is also a thing and I'm getting him trained up as a mega psi-ops chap too.

[Patje]

Throwing a grenade to reveal the container and shooting an enemy out of the air, lovely. :cool:

[Raoul Duke]

Good couple of vids Ian. The psychic stuff is pretty swish :cool:

[Ian]

Byron is all trained up on that too. I've nearly got two fully-levelled squads worth of people and robots ready for the last two missions.

Mahow and Mike are a bit beastly as my snipers now too. Murdering dudes all over the shop.

[phonics]

This games brillo. Still janked as fuck but still brilliant.

However, I think I've left it a little too late to attack the avatar project. 3 blips left and I haven't even made contact with the place that contains the base. I thought I had to attack the blacksite so was prepping for that :(

[Ian]

If you take down a blacksite it'll reduce the avatar counter. I had the avatar counter at about the level you're at for most of my first playthrough. Should still be salvageable.

[phonics]

Lol my Captain died before I had the resources to get 6 squad members and it all went downhill from there. I'm going to go back from a save somewhere in the middle.

[Ian]

Enjoying War of the Chosen a lot so far.

[Baz]

Free on PS+ in June

[Ian]

So WOTC definitely isn't like being XCOM3 but it's very good and adds a lot of stuff. I really hope that whenever we get XCOM 3 it doesn't just ignore this like 2 did with Enemy Within, though. The factions definitely need to be involved.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il6GoZR1IIk

I am very excited. Not released until September sadly.

[Ian]

Yeah it looks ace. Should've moar freds'd it though.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I still need to finish WOTC but I've pre-purchased Chimera Squad as it's 50% off:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZnpl3hWfVM

[Ian]

Pre-ordering. :nono:

That's come seemingly out of nowhere though unless I'd just missed it.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Pre-ordering. :nono:

That's come seemingly out of nowhere though unless I'd just missed it.

50% off because it's a pre-order.

They announced it just a few hours ago and it comes out in 10 days, strange.

[Ian]

Pre-ordering is still unequivocally a terrible idea. if anything 50% off a pre-order off just sets even more alarm bells.

Three years for another random little expansion with a bunch of new mechanics is..... odd. I wonder if this is setting up some stuff for an XCOM 3.

[Ian]

Also the discount is up for a week after release anyway. So plenty of time to not encourage pre-ordering, wait for reviews and get it at a bargain if it's not shite.

[Ian]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39fhpegVBQQ

I don't like the look of it being XCOM2 but more cartoony though I suppose I'll get over that. Breach Mode feels like a natural follow-up from the "stealth" bits they had at the start of missions in XCOM2 and a little like how Mutant Year Zero starts fights so I'm into the idea of that. And I'm also not against this appearing to be a smaller-scale story than OMFG THE WORLD ENDS IF YOU LOSE. I'm sure the lack of permadeath will make XCOM diehards very cranky though.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I had forgotten how much I loved this game.

Started on WOTC finally today and it's great.

Annoyingly though I had downloaded loads of soldier packs which have carried over but the voicepacks have not. Thus, I have people like Hodor running around but using a basic voice.

Just look at that squad list:

https://imgur.com/a/9rRD33R

:drool:

[Ian]

WOTC is XCOM2 at it's most power-fantasy-y but it is great fun.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Really like the mental new assassins.

Can imagine they're right bastards nearer the end of the game. Especially for me as I'm quite conservative and use a lot of Overwatch.

[Ian]

Is that the three main ones? Yeah they can be quite tricksy. Satisfying when you off one though.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Yeah, in the last mission I did I was introduced to the first one (had a fight but she left before death) and then saw all 3 in a cut scene.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

My sharpshooters are better at long range with their fucking pistols.

80% shot with a sniper rifle miss, 40% with a pistol no fucking problem boss.

Also, lightning reflexes is a bit of a chest code when it comes to dealing with the lost.

[Ian]

See, I'm doing the DLC for Mutant Year Zero and it's a relief to be reminded that in those games it doesn't lie to you about the chance of hitting.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Also, lightning reflexes is a bit of a chest code when it comes to dealing with the lost.

It's actually pretty game breaking in all aspects. Especially if you couple it with Psi Operatives using their inspire skill and the whole bonding granting extra turns thing.

I can take out as many enemies in my sharpshooters LOS, move take them out and I haven't tried it yet but I could just tab to a Psi guy inspire the sharpshooter so he can move again and then use reflexes again and finally I could tab to a bonded teammate who gives him another action.

I took down one of the Chosen last night pretty much solo with the Sharpshooter.

Edit: It's actually called Lightning hands.

Maybe one of the mods has fucked it because I can't imagine that an ability should grant basically unlimited shots.

[Ian]

I don't remember that but then I didn't mod the game.

However there are more than a few opportunities in the game for you to be overpowered and killing lots of enemies in one turn by combining the right abilities.

[phonics]

Lol Mahow, the whole mechanic wit the lost is if you kill them then you get a free shot. You don't need to use Lightning Hands.

[Ian]

Digging into my recollection of the game here but doesn't Lightning Hands help you with reloads?

And second post he's not talking about the Lost is he?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Lol Mahow, the whole mechanic wit the lost is if you kill them then you get a free shot. You don't need to use Lightning Hands.

Not talking about the Lost in the second post. With the lightning hands right now I can shoot as many times as I want with a sharpshooters pistol at any target, even if I miss or hit.

The skill is that a pistol shot does not use an action point but for some reason it is never in cool-down.

[Ian]

50% off because it's a pre-order.

They announced it just a few hours ago and it comes out in 10 days, strange.

From the RPS review it sounds like you'll want to play this on Hard from the get-go.

[Ian]

Happy enough with the reviews for this that I might get it over the weekend.

If they don't write all this out by declaring something else as canon like they did with XCOM / Enemy Within (RIP MECs :() I'd be quite interested to see them push this idea of humans and the leftover aliens uniting to face another enemy in XCOM3, whenever we get that.

[phonics]

I got this.

I absolutely hate the whole Breach mechanic. It's stupid.

I hate the upgrade/strategy level mechanic. It's stupid.

The fights are really small with very little decision making required. It's stupid.

Anything above a tenner is a rip off.

[Ian]

I'm undecided on the price but I like the breaching a lot and it would make sense to have it in certain missions in whatever XCOM 3 looks like. I think the escort missions make it clear how it wouldn't be suited to more open missions but for some of the ones set in interiors (or for those bits of missions where you attack a facility) I don't see why not.

Have you put the difficulty up? It makes a difference in that you're not just murdering whichever enemy's turn is next.

[phonics]

I'm undecided on the price but I like the breaching a lot and it would make sense to have it in certain missions in whatever XCOM 3 looks like.

This is fair and my criticism is probably tempered with the fact that they invented a cool little game mechanic and based an entire game around it without developing it further.

Imagine if you could see through the door, enemy placements etc. and decide where each character would finish in cover etc. I think you can do this with powers but it's like 'once per battle' and you have no idea how many breaches you'll do in one battle. Lots of annoyances like that.

[Ian]

I think having that for every breach would be OP but I see your point that it'd be nice if they found a middle ground.

I just hope this gets well received and they go "Cool, yeah, more of this and better in XCOM 3" because it's a very nifty idea and when you nail a breach first time it's very satisfying.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

A stun of 1 not actually being a stun is bullshit btw.

I stun the enemy who is next in the turn and the stun is cleared instantly and he can attack straight away.

[hfswjyr]

Stun just makes the enemy lose one action point. So for example, they won't be able to move and shoot, and they can only move or shoot. Sometimes Verge can Stun 2, which makes the enemy lose both their action points, in which case it acts like a proper stun.

I quite like the breach mechanic, as well as the turn initiatives. Dislike the city-map, research and upgrades as they feel like dumbed down XCOM. Quite like having "characters", but I do miss being able to just train and customise operatives.

Playing on Expert is decently challenging for me. Most missions are relatively close with lots of people coming out gravely wounded and scarred, and have failed a couple so far.

Gears Tactics is coming out this week, so will be an interesting comparison.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Stun just makes the enemy lose one action point. So for example, they won't be able to move and shoot, and they can only move or shoot. Sometimes Verge can Stun 2, which makes the enemy lose both their action points, in which case it acts like a proper stun.

I quite like the breach mechanic, as well as the turn initiatives. Dislike the city-map, research and upgrades as they feel like dumbed down XCOM. Quite like having "characters", but I do miss being able to just train and customise operatives.

Playing on Expert is decently challenging for me. Most missions are relatively close with lots of people coming out gravely wounded and scarred, and have failed a couple so far.

Gears Tactics is coming out this week, so will be an interesting comparison.

I stunned a vipery bastard for 1 but he was still able to move and then spit all over me.

[Ian]

So, more Chimera Squad thoughts from what I've played so far.

Want to see in XCOM 3:
- Breach mode. As I've said I really like it and would want either full Breach missions to be in XCOM 3 OR for it to be a feature at certain points during missions. I don't want it to be how every mission starts as the VIP evac ones in Chimera squad where you're "breaching" a big open street are balls. Outdoors bits probably need to just start as they did in XCOM 2. (I actually think there are things they could steal from Mutant Year Zero on this front but that's a ramble for another day.)

- The main story. Don't XCOM 2 me and say "lol j/k we lost the first game and MECs / gene mods never happened" (:() I like this story idea and there are plenty of directions you can take it. If you want to see Firaxis do a take on Terror from the Deep you can still tie it into this.

- Further to the above, don't tickle my balls with alien team mates in this one only to take them away from XCOM3 like you did with MECs/XCOM2 you total bastards. Even if their Murican accents are a bit jarring. But it's a nice progression of things and recruiting aliens to help defend Earth against whatever comes next would be fun.

- The new turns system. "We all take our turns then you take all your turns" is less good than this. Though I would caveat that by saying that they need to work on it a bit because on default difficulty for this it's literally just a case of piling on whoever has their turns the soonest, whereas on Expert at least I'm finding my decisions a touch more nuanced than that.

- Other activities for inactive squad members. I haven't unlocked any more interesting stuff yet as I haven't upgraded my field teams but the Spec Ops stuff for example is an interesting idea.

Don't want:
- Set characters. It's fine for a smaller game like this but for my full-fat XCOM sequel I want the aliens but not for characters that can't die without a game-over. For it to be worth a punt in a full XCOM3 Firaxis' writing would have to be a lot stronger than it is here. With this going you'd go back to classes and more varied / interesting level-up choices.

- The research / upgrade system. It might be a slight downgrade on what we had in XCOM 2 as hfswjyr and Phonics but I don't want that back either. Researching what new shit you find in a mission is fine but the idea that I'm having to spend most of my current resources just to have one smoke grenade with which to help me defend the Earth is nonsense. XCOM / XCOM 2 largely failed on this front too. Just not enough interesting decisions which is what these things should be.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Looks like my game froze (probably due to no internet but it was fine before) when I had 1 member of the team waiting to be Evaced.

Sigh.

[Ian]

Does it not do fairly regular autosaves?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Yeah it will have.

Just annoying as I can't close it down and load it back up as my internet is down I don't think.

Might hotspot it for a bit maybe.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

It's crashing every mission right now.

Edit: 2 crashes in the exact same spot :uhoh:

Edit: Got past it. I killed enemies before doing an objective and it seems like the game didn't know what to do.

[hfswjyr]

Other than the tactical part of the game, the game itself is unbelievably unpolished to be honest. The UI is crap with popups often covering important information making it impossible to read. And then the amount of hilarious graphical glitches on breaching is just incredible. Half the time my squad breaches through windows without breaking the window. When they throw grenades through doors, it lands about a metre from the door itself. When enemies kick down doors, the door closes again, and the enemy then melds through the door to enter.
You would have thought this would have all been picked up during a playtest.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Those popups are so annoying.

I had someone bleed out on me earlier which meant I was able to select an android if he was selected or unselected (I couldn't actually tell if he was selected) a pop up would tell me he was not active and that I might struggle without it.

A popup also covers up the name of the third faction.

I also beat the first faction I selected earlier today. Can I unlock more slots for training/spec ops or is it 1 per throughout the game because I hate being told that a member of my squad is inactive constantly.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Also, initially I did not want to use Verge's mindflay ability as it showed 2 red bars when I went to use it thinking that he'd take self-damage but after a couple of missions I just thought I might as well try it. Did absolutely no damage to him.

[Ian]

Yeah I can't work that out either.

Firaxis can't do UIs though. The UI outside of how the fights are presented and the Avenger view was balls down to weirdly common things they never spot / fix in testing and shitty inventory systems and it's not much better now.

Though they did at least finally add a button themselves to un-equip items from inactive squad members.

I encountered my first Chryssalids last night. Seems they're the XCOM2 chryssalid-lite variety rather than Enemy Unknown's nightmare fuel.

[hfswjyr]

Yep, I've seen all the glitches mentioned above as well. They Dev team would have definitely noticed these problems too, but chosen to just rush the product out the door instead.
I'm guessing they deperately wanted to beat Gears Tactics to the market.

And yes, you can eventually have more slots for research and training. Not sure about Spec-Ops yet on my playthrough.

[Ian]

I dunno if it's specific to Vent entries but I had a weird one yesterday where I sent Verge through a vent and for the next shot afterwards it didn't change perspective so (unless there's an obvious marker somewhere telling me who's shooting during a breach) I was having to try and remember what order I'd put the breach team in.

Another plus is that I'm finding there are agents who when I first look at their skills I feel pretty meh but are usually quite useful when I actually put them in a mission. Last night's example was Claymore and his shrapnel bomb.

[Disco]

This is a smaller scale room clearing type thing right?

Have they solved the problem all the new ones had (ambush the first set of enemies then try your hardest not to trigger the next two groups until you're ready)?

[Ian]

This is a smaller scale room clearing type thing right?

Have they solved the problem all the new ones had (ambush the first set of enemies then try your hardest not to trigger the next two groups until you're ready)?

So you'll have at most two or three connected rooms per encounter but once you've breached all enemies in that encounter know you're there. Sometimes there will be reinforcements to either extract away from or withstand and defend until it tells you you're done.

[Disco]

Is this standalone or an expansion/DLC?

[Ian]

Standalone.

Enemy Within / War of the Chosen (I may be telling you something you already know here, I can't remember what bits you played) both did the same thing of adding a bunch of stuff to the existing campaign. I mean WOTC was basically XCOM 2.5 but it was still doing that.

Chimera Squad is a standalone mini-sequel.

EDIT: I am right about Enemy Within aren't I? I'm doubting myself now. I know it added some extra mission types and story bits but you were still going through the same campaign, ultimately, right?

[Ian]

I just Googled it and I was correct. Phew.

So canonically it's Enemy Unknown > XCOM 2 > Chimera Squad.

And I think from a few things that get mentioned WOTC did actually happen, or some of it. I'm sure I heard one of the factions get mentioned.

[Disco]

No I bounced off the first one and never felt the need to go back, especially with stuff like Open Xcom and Xenonauts iterating on the originals. This new thing is also on about £9 for the next few days, can't really go wrong with that.

[Ian]

And despite it very obviously being a testing ground for some different ideas there's a fair amount to it. I'm 10-12 hours in at a guess and I've only dealt with one of the three city factions the game tasks you with giving a good hiding.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

The Chimera Squad are a bunch of dickhead Police officers though really aren't they?

You pick a faction and then they breach the fuck into a place they have intel on with no warrant or anything and then shoot first before asking questions later assuming they've not killed everyone.

[Disco]

Barging in at the drop of a hat and blowing everything up with too many explosives is the Xcom way. I would stock the ship with high explosives in case the map had snakemen on it.

[Ian]

It's fairly clear the government are sending them in to do this, I think the "Warrant Acquisition" stage of the strategy layer is probably better implied than implemented.

And anyway, how would you propose they try to resolve things peacefully with a chryssalid, out of curiosity?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Barging in at the drop of a hat and blowing everything up with too many explosives is the Xcom way. I would stock the ship with high explosives in case the map had snakemen on it.
Yeah but that was at a time of war.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

It's fairly clear the government are sending them in to do this, I think the "Warrant Acquisition" stage of the strategy layer is probably better implied than implemented.

And anyway, how would you propose they try to resolve things peacefully with a chryssalid, out of curiosity?

They thought they were all gone at the start of this game, no?

Regardless, a peaceful chryssalid is a dead one.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

When you first start on a faction they have no knowledge at all.

"These are bad guys, right?"

[Disco]

Wait, chryssalids in tight confined spaces? I may have to re-consider.

[phonics]

Here was my twist on the XCOM story that I thought up while high.

The third game should be you trying to take over the planet and installing yourself as God Emporer. You've been the only one saving the world for decades now, have it all go to your head and make you the bad guy shutting down revolutions against you and causing them against the countries.

Become the bloke on the TV that goes "...Commander."

[Ian]

When you first start on a faction they have no knowledge at all.
It's "here are the factions we think capable of [doing the spoilery thing]."

You then get told about when they're up to stuff that's reet dodgy.

If you want there to be 28 possible factions and only three up to no good but you have to whittle them down then maybe you should write to Firaxis with this proposed Admin & Red Tape layer you seem so keen on.

Meanwhile I'll be here stopping chryssalids eating your family and shitting all over your gaming chair.


Wait, chryssalids in tight confined spaces? I may have to re-consider.

Thus far they've been gimpier XCOM 2 chryssalids rather than the "THAT THING NEEDS TO DIE RIGHT NOW" chryssalids of Enemy Unknown.

But I've only had one fight against them so far. I had the same reaction as you when I saw them though.

[Disco]

Phew. I've levelled towns to get rid of the fuckers in the original, I feel like that's what the blaster launcher was put into the game for.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Red tape simulator :drool:

[Ian]

Absolutely nailed a couple of "Very Difficult" missions last night. Even on Expert I'm actually not having that much trouble with the missions themselves now I have some decent abilities (though I'm still only a little way into my second faction so it might be lying about difficulty) but I'm having to spin plates to keep districts in check.

I'm starting to get some of the elite weapons too or whatever they're called.


Phew. I've levelled towns to get rid of the fuckers in the original, I feel like that's what the blaster launcher was put into the game for.

In Enemy Unknown you had Terror Missions which was basically just a town mostly full of chryssalids and civilians and you had to kill as many of the former as you could before they could kill too many of the latter so you had the nightmare scenario of having to push aggressively when you knew there were fucking chryssalids everywhere.

Then in Enemy Within we briefly got MECs and their glorious kinetic strike, a big fuck off melee attack that if directed correctly would see your big metal lad punch a chryssalid through a wall.

Gloriously cathartic.

[hfswjyr]

I'm regretting not giving War of the Chosen a go, but I remember not feeling up to replaying the XCOM 2 campaign again.

I'm a bit stuck on the last mission of Sacred Coil. Playing on Expert.

[Ian]

I'm regretting not giving War of the Chosen a go, but I remember not feeling up to replaying the XCOM 2 campaign again.

I'm a bit stuck on the last mission of Sacred Coil. Playing on Expert.

I did Gray Phoenix, I'm now doing Sacred Coil.

War of the Chosen feels very different to XCOM2. It's not quite XCOM3 but it's not far off in many ways. And it ends up being much more of a XCOM-as-superheroes power fantasy.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Zephyr <3

Despite her horrible accent ofc.

[Ian]

I've not picked her yet. Am I doing myself a bad turn?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

She's my favourite thus far as she's basically a ranger minus the sword.

Just got her promoted enough to get reaper which is brilliant.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I threw a shrapnel grenade between two enemies then lobbed a sticky grenade at one of them who ran right by the other guy.

Blew himself to pieces which triggered the shrapnel which finished off the other guy :drool:

My best kill(s) by far on this game.

[Ian]

I think the ones I've not picked so far are Zephyr, Shelter and.... Blueblood? Dunno if there are more it hasn't offered me yet.

Cherub has turned out to be one I like more than I expected and I've now taken Patchwork who's really useful against all these Sacred Coil robots.

[hfswjyr]

Assuming we all started with the same four, who have you guys picked up?

I've got Torque, Patchwork, Shelter, and Axiom so far. Listed in order of usefulness.

[Ian]

Started with:
Godmother
Verge
Cherub
Terminal

As you say, I assume that's the same. I've since picked up:
Torque
Claymore
Axiom
Patchwork

Pleasingly I'm finding all of them pretty good when you get used to them.

I'd say my first choice squad just now is Terminal, Axiom, Cherub and Godmother. Though Axiom / Godmother I'm happy to switch out for Claymore and I think Patchwork will become more and more useful as I get her level and I plan to use her alot against Sacred Coil.

I've not levelled Torque as much as I'd like purely because of how my rotations have fallen when I need to put members into Spec Ops or Assembly.

[Ian]

Just read up a bit on Zephr and I wish I'd taken her already.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I've picked up Zephyr, Claymore, Axiom and Blueblood.

Generally running Zephyr, Claymore, Blueblood and then one of Godmother or Terminal.

Godmother wasn't in play for me for ages but I picked up two epic shotguns which are so OP.

Blueblood is also great because he can take 2 shots a turn (3 when lightning hands is off cool down). He's shit during breach though because his damage is so low.

[Ian]

Godmother doesn't need one of the shotguns to have OP powers. "Ventilate" fills that role very nicely.

Everybody playing on Expert too?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Godmother doesn't need one of the shotguns to have OP powers. "Ventilate" fills that role very nicely.

Everybody playing on Expert too?

Yeah but she's coming in over Terminal (and her healing gremlin) because the shotguns I have are amazing.

High damage, range doesn't matter as the encounters are in smaller rooms than normal Xcom and they get an extra ability.

One shotgun (which Godmother has) gives her run and gun and the one that Claymore has gives him rapid fire.

I play on hard.

[Ian]

Range is irrelevant but the ability to ignore cover is good.

I mean if she's in the team I'm giving her one of the shotguns anyway because I'm never putting three shotgunners in one mission but I think I've had less cause to use run and gun than either ventilate or rapid fire so far.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I only just realised that "Ventilate" also hits the enemy.

I thought it was just a cover shredder.

Fucking game changer ffs.

[Ian]

Fucks sake Mahow. :D

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Campaign done.

I enjoyed it although there are some slight niggles (mainly the fact that it seemed to crash for me on the regular) but I do hope they bring breaches into a few missions for Xcom 3.

[Ian]

Crashy for me too, definitely issues on that front.

Do you get all agents in one campaign? I've started the third lot and still don't have three of them.

[hfswjyr]

I don't believe so. I must be on the last mission now, and I've only got the initial four and another four.

I was wrong about Axiom. He's an absolute beast.

[phonics]

I played the new Gears X-COM game. I absolutely hate the 'walk to your next mission' parts of the missions.

[Ian]

Is it in the Game Pass thing, Phonics? if so I'll give it a bash when I sort my PC upgrade.


I was wrong about Axiom. He's an absolute beast.

Yeah he's really powerful.

There's not one of them who isn't useful, to be fair. Of the eight I've got anyway.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

You don't get them all.

I didn't like Axiom tbh.

I only used a pool of 5 near the end (Zephyr, Blueblood, Godmother, Claymore and Terminal) because they're all tremendous.

[phonics]

Is it in the Game Pass thing, Phonics? if so I'll give it a bash when I sort my PC upgrade.



Yeah he's really powerful.

There's not one of them who isn't useful, to be fair. Of the eight I've got anyway.

Yep, once again, make sure you play it on hard.

[Ian]

I'd currently be happy going into any mission with pretty much any combo of mine. I'd always want Terminal if at all possible for the heals but pretty much everybody else I'd be comfortable with. Patchwork being able to potentially stun or disorient an enemy just by running near them has been a surprise lifesaver a couple of times.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Just played through the first level of Gears Tactics and early impressions are good.

[Ian]

By the time you get to the endgame of Chimera Squad even on whatever the 2nd hardest difficulty is called (Expert?) it's fairly straightforward. And I don't think I've had the city crisis meter thing get even to half way.