I read the topic on here when it first came out, but a lot of that topic/discussion seemed to also be about the first game, which I never played.
So I’m kinda hoping this one could just be exclusive “Enemy Unknown” talk and not much else…although I’m very late to the party (starting it a good two years after it’s been out).
I’m liking it a lot more than I thought I would. I’m someone who didn’t know what this game was about at all until I first tried it just three days ago.
Since then, I’ve progressed about 1/4th into it, I’d guess. Just finished the assault on the hidden alien base on earth (the one you need a key for), but many, many times i’ve already considered starting a new game and doing things differently (in different order) from the start, knowing some of the things I know now. After all, I’ve had one nation already withdraw from the XCOM alliance, and a few others are a little close. My guess is, with good choices and stuff, it should be possible not to lose anyone.
Anyway, no spoilers in regards to storylines or things I haven’t yet discovered (or do so, if you wish, but use spoiler tags), but feel free to discuss general things, tips and advice, or plot points that go up to the alien base part.
I’ve already built up a lot of my troops…I have about two majors, four captains, and many, many of the ranks below those. I try to put in one or two rookies on each mission. I haven’t been TOO unlucky in losing anyone high, although I did recently lose a sniper captain that had been with me since the beginning (which has been about 11-12 missions now).
The key is satellites. Try to have 1 or 2 ready to launch a few days before each council meeting, so you can pull any nation on maximum panic back from the edge - they only withdraw at council meetings. That is your highest priority, over research, weapons, armor, planes, anything.
Yeah, what he said. Also, don’t launch them unless one of your nations is going to pull out. They’re pretty much the only way you have to bring down arrest that’s under your direct control (as opposed to waiting for the right mission to show up).
What difficulty level are you playing on? If you do start again, consider picking Classic/Ironman(if you haven’t already). It’s a really nice difficulty level. Not ridiculously hard, but challenging enough that you can(will) lose soldiers, and, potentially, the game. I’d say that is a massive part of the XCOM experience, and my first playthrough was C/I.
I’ve personally been playing Impossible/Ironman, and I really like it, although the tactics involved in that are counter intuitive enough that I wouldn’t recommend it to someone who has just started the game. Or perhaps to anyone at all
ETA: Also, apparently I’ve spent over 300 hours on this game. Thanks for destroying my life Miller
Can’t help because even though I played, I forgot everything. But this thread made me consider starting a game (I never finished any). Not sure if I should play the old classic or the modern version, though.
Installing game. The modern version since I’m also currently playing an old classic (The Eleder Scrolls I : Arena), so I will have something pretty to look at for a change.
The OP will be held responsible for any negative consequence on my life (loss of sleep, friends, sex, job, etc…)
So, I started a new game and played the first month. Europe is upset. Is there a point in buying an interceptor there (with the hope of downing an UFO and calm spirits)? Do I need a satellite over a country to even have a chance to notice an UFO? Do I need more than one interceptor on a continent?
Satellites help calm down the countries whose panic level is rising. Interceptors on every continent is good, but not really too pressing. I’ve only needed to use them three times, so far…so you have a good, long time to build their numbers up slowly.
You WILL need them eventually, so I’ve heard/read.
Man, this is a good game. I need to pick it back up.
It took me a long time to train myself out of the habit of fast advancing my troops: I always wanted to do a double-move, and ended up dying a ton because of that. So that’s my advice, if you’re playing foolishly like I did. Don’t double-move unless you have a damned good reason to do so, and being impatient is not a damned good reason.
You need the satellite to notice the UFO. Personally, I end up with two interceptors per continent, in case I need to down a UFO while the first is undergoing repairs, or if the first has to abort, and also so I can have one heavy hitter for blasting battleships and one ion cannon for downing scouts intact.
I’ve played 3 or 4 months (can’t remember), and I’ve trouble downing UFOs. At this relatively early stage, there are few improvements available : the things you can click on during the fight and are consumed in the process, and the short range guns. It seems that the latter rather make things worse, but since I don’t intercept that many UFOs and they vary a lot in size, I’m not very sure. What would you advise, and what types of UFOs should I leave alone?
Also, I had twice missions turning badly, with three deaths and not losing the whole team frankly only because I was lucky. And Im not sure how bad it is to abort a mission. Is it worse to fail and abort than not to start the mission in the first place? For instance, I have only two captains at the moment. Is trying to “save” a mission worth the risk of losing them? Or should I be more conservative and extract my team when things begin to turn wrong?
I said two captains, but when I think of it, I’m playing the game in French, and the rank order is corporal, sergent, major, lieutnant, captain, colonel. But I suppose in the English version, it’s lieutnant, captain, major, colonel. So, to be clearer, the guy I have and am wondering whether they can be sacrified have the second highest rank (and I don’t have any of the highest rank, they’re my best guys).
Aborting an abduction prevention mission will hurt your country relations, and aborting a terror mission will cause that country to immediately cease supporting X-Com, but you can abort a UFO recovery mission with no penalties at all.
Aborting if the outcome looks questionable is a good idea, especially on the lower difficulties where losing a mission isn’t a big deal. Experienced soldiers are your most valuable asset, so it’ll rarely be worth sacrificing them just for the sake of one mission.
What I bolded is an important point. I might not want to lose a country. And since I normally pick the country with the lowest relations for abduction prevention, it might have the same result (although in this case, I still can send a satellite before the end of the month if there isn’t any).
A somewhat related point : for very difficult missions, I sent my best soldiers until now, but I wondered, given the risks (At this point, I have difficult ennemies, like disks and chrysalids, but my equipement isn’t very good. I’m still using all the basic weapons, for instance. So, I think I’m at a particularly difficult step), if I shouldn’t rather send basic soldiers. They are more likely to fail, but on the other hand, their loss wouldn’t bother me much.
I usually send a couple of rookies along with the seasoned veterans. If they happen to survive the mission, then they’ll make for good replacements for when the veterans are injured or otherwise unavailable. If the rookies don’t survive, well, no great loss; there’s a reason I put them in red shirts.
Another question : I just discovered the alien base. How hard a fight should I expect. Should I consider waiting, say, one month hoping for better equipment, or is it a mission that should be conducted without delay?
There’s been some good advice here, but I have two things to say: first, despite what bldysabba said, I’d recommend against using ironman when you start another game (and it is ‘when’, not ‘if’- the only question is whether you’ll finish, lose, or abandon the current one). The game is still pretty buggy; Firaxis really hasn’t done a good job of post-release patch support, and you don’t want to lose a dozen hours worth of progress due to a system glitch you couldn’t help. There’s certainly something to be said for not save-scumming; but if that’s what you want, then do it yourself- ironman the way your ancestors did.
Secondly, once you’ve finished your playthough and beaten the game once or twice, go back and play the original. I won’t say any more on the subject, but do play it.
Delay is fine. I’d wait until I have laser and the 2nd level of armor.
Usually*, I bring 2-3 rookies along to train them up but for the alien base, bring only your best people. It’s not that bad but you don’t want to blow it.
Also, this will be your best chance to capture a particular kind of enemy that serves as the boss battle. I’d take up the chance.
*I also bring only my best for the very difficult missions, except near the end of the game where I can count on having 4-5 supermen so having 1-2 rookies along is fine even if I’m up against very tough enemies. I can always use rookies very aggressively to free civilians or mez enemies; if they live, that was their baptism of fire. If they die, I guess they weren’t Xcom material.
You don’t want to, but it’s not the end of the world if it happens. It’s usually not even a big deal, although some of the continent bonuses can be nice. You can lose a great many of them before the fail state kicks in, and the smaller countries barely make a blip in your total monthly funding (much of which comes from your own salvage sales). Intentionally writing off an entire continent (or two!) is a standard strategy for the highest difficulty level.
You’re performing triage for humanity. If portions must be sacrificed for the whole to survive, so be it.
