# That's XCOM (II) Baby! **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** video-games-e-games\ **Created:** [December 11, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-xcom-ii-baby/740194 "2015-12-11T20:20:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-xcom-ii-baby/740194/101 "2016-02-11T20:21:32Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > You can get all the benefits of ironman (except maybe an achievement if there is one) by just manually only saving sometimes, but then you need the discipline to actually stick with it. That’s pretty much when I’m doing, although I have reloaded a few times testing out a few new mechanics that I weren’t sure how they worked. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-xcom-ii-baby/740194/102 "2016-02-11T20:32:10Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > That’s pretty much when I’m doing, although I have reloaded a few times testing out a few new mechanics that I weren’t sure how they worked. That’s what I meant. Play it as if you were in Ironman mode. Only use it for when a bug creeps up, or maybe an unintended UI miss-click. ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-xcom-ii-baby/740194/103 "2016-02-11T21:06:23Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > That’s what I meant. Play it as if you were in Ironman mode. Only use it for when a bug creeps up, or maybe an unintended UI miss-click. That’s what I do as well. I had my second fatality last night. R.I.P. Lt. Svein “Nitro” Andersen. Torn apart by two Faceless. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-xcom-ii-baby/740194/104 "2016-02-11T21:33:11Z")
I’m wishing less missions had “Eliminate all enemy targets” as an objective that needs completed, considering the intro of stealth to this game. Maybe make it optional for extra rewards. Like I had a mission to destroy some transmitter. I destroyed it, but then I evac’d before killing everyone because I lost two soldiers and two more were wounded. It went down as a fail even though I completed the primary objective. ---
**Author:** ![Unpronounceable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de0a6/32.png) [@Unpronounceable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unpronounceable)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-xcom-ii-baby/740194/105 "2016-02-12T03:32:33Z")
If you evac instead of killing all the enemies, you don’t get their bodies as loot. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-xcom-ii-baby/740194/106 "2016-02-12T21:35:18Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Upon further experimentation, I believe one of my previous assumptions was wrong - this game _does_ use fixed random number seeds in the same way the previous game did. > > Under the standard settings, the game generates a string of d100 rolls at the beginning of every mission which are used to answer hit/miss rolls, in linear order, and this string is retained on reload. If you have a 90% chance to hit a target, and the next roll in order is 91, you will _always_ miss that shot no matter how many times you reload and retry it, unless you take a different shot first and it happens that the next number in line is 89. > > I hated that in the first game, and I loved that there was a Second Wave option to disable it. It’s ostensibly an anti-save-scumming measure, but it really just _encourages_ a different kind of save-scumming; I know that Squaddie X can’t hit on a 67% chance no matter what, so if I can move Squaddie Y into a position where they have a 75% chance to hit, then I’ll likely be able to have X take a shot at a 57% chance in the hopes that the next roll is a better one, or if there’s an enemy on overwatch, I can force them to take the shot that’s doomed to miss so that I can get a better roll on the next shot. Of course, there’s already a mod for that: [http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=620450319&searchtext=](http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=620450319&searchtext=) Speaking of which, has anyone installed any mods yet? How easy is it? ---
**Author:** ![Unpronounceable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de0a6/32.png) [@Unpronounceable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unpronounceable)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-xcom-ii-baby/740194/107 "2016-02-12T22:23:13Z")
If you’re going through Steam Workshop, it’s pretty painless. Just subscribe to the mods, and the next time you run the game, there’ll be a list of mods to activate or deactivate before you hit “play.” The downside to the mods, is that if you need to deactivate a mod for any reason, you’ll probably lose any saves in which it was active. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-xcom-ii-baby/740194/108 "2016-02-15T10:39:54Z")
I am enjoying this very much. I like how they’ve kept similar concepts to the previous game but adapted them to the new situation (contacting resistance units instead of making satellites for instance.) One question for those here, is there an equivalent of the grey market, and if so how do I access it? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-xcom-ii-baby/740194/110 "2016-02-15T11:47:26Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > I am enjoying this very much. I like how they’ve kept similar concepts to the previous game but adapted them to the new situation (contacting resistance units instead of making satellites for instance.) One question for those here, is there an equivalent of the grey market, and if so how do I access it? Never mind, I’ve found the black market. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-xcom-ii-baby/740194/111 "2016-02-15T12:36:39Z")
Are workshops worth building? Seems like a hassle to clear space and then build stuff in the right order to have an optimal layout, and then you have to staff it with one engineer per 2 gremlins - so at most you’re going through a lot of hassle for a net gain of 1-2 engineers. Also, in general, our entertainment vastly overuses the directive “at all costs”, but this game is horrible about it. They basically just mean “this is your primary objective” when they say at all costs. “Protect that relay at all costs!” “Capture that VIP at all costs!” - except if your guys are dying, he’ll say “The objective isn’t worth it, pull back your troops” - wait, you said this objective was so important that it must be had at all costs, and now we’re pulling out because the costs are high? Just verbal spam. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-xcom-ii-baby/740194/112 "2016-02-15T15:11:45Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Are workshops worth building? Seems like a hassle to clear space and then build stuff in the right order to have an optimal layout, and then you have to staff it with one engineer per 2 gremlins - so at most you’re going through a lot of hassle for a net gain of 1-2 engineers. I’ve gotten to the point where I now have engineers pretty much sitting around doing nothing, with no workshops, so I would say no. It seems like there’s not a lot of room and a lot of things to build, that putting in a workshop is low priority. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-xcom-ii-baby/740194/113 "2016-02-15T15:42:21Z")
Eventually you run out of stuff to build and research no matter, that doesn’t make the workshop not useful. I consider it a must have and plan my base layout around it. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-xcom-ii-baby/740194/114 "2016-02-15T16:38:22Z")
Am I missing something, or doesn’t it just give you an extra engineer that you can only use it certain areas? Maybe I just got lucky this run through and was able to get a lot of engineers early on. ---
**Author:** ![Garula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@Garula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garula)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-xcom-ii-baby/740194/115 "2016-02-15T17:09:13Z")
I’m also having a hard time seeing the value of workshops. Engineers at the resistance HQ cost around 200~250 supplies, right? The upfront cost of a workshop is about half that, but then there’s also the 35 supply upkeep cost and the power requirement as well. After a few months, you would have been better off just buying a new engineer in the first place, it seems. I feel like I must be missing something here. The mimic beacons have been by far the most useful items of my playthrough so far. They’re almost like getting an extra turn. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-xcom-ii-baby/740194/116 "2016-02-15T17:09:33Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Am I missing something, or doesn’t it just give you an extra engineer that you can only use it certain areas? > > Maybe I just got lucky this run through and was able to get a lot of engineers early on. Two extra with the upgrade, and yeah if you get lucky and get a bunch of engineers early it’s not quite as good. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-xcom-ii-baby/740194/117 "2016-02-15T17:41:27Z")
I wish I had started a Psy Ops lab sooner, since apparently you just let a soldier sit in it to level up. Next time it’s going to be a priority for me. ---
**Author:** ![Unpronounceable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de0a6/32.png) [@Unpronounceable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unpronounceable)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-xcom-ii-baby/740194/118 "2016-02-15T19:23:45Z")
I had two psi-troops along on the final mission. Having a refreshing high-damage AOE that can be aimed beyond line-of-sight was godly. Killed off at least two enemy groups without triggering them. I wish the null-lance was easier to catch multiple enemies, though (or at least you could aim the line-of-effect BEFORE you move.) ---
**Author:** ![F.Pu-du-he-pa-as](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@F.Pu-du-he-pa-as](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.Pu-du-he-pa-as)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-xcom-ii-baby/740194/119 "2016-02-15T22:25:16Z")
I just wanted everyone to know that I successfully completed Operation Stank Knife. Yes, Stank Knife. Really. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-xcom-ii-baby/740194/120 "2016-02-15T22:34:41Z")
And then afterwards you played Xcom? Otherwise that seems very inappropriate for this thread. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-xcom-ii-baby/740194/121 "2016-02-15T22:52:49Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > And then afterwards you played Xcom? Otherwise that seems very inappropriate for this thread. Have you not looked at the operation names? [Stank knife is not even close to being one of the more inappropriate ones.](http://i.imgur.com/RiFywlS.jpg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-xcom-ii-baby/740194.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-xcom-ii-baby/740194.md?page=7)