I was referring to EU missions, sorry that wasn’t clearer. I don’t have EW unfortunately, so I don’t know how the covert operative missions work, but the VIP rescue and escort missions still work the same way in EW.
Also, one minor difference between the rescue missions(when you have to go hunting for the VIP) and the escort missions(when you start off with the VIP) is that the first two or so drops are timed, so be careful.
It disables their primary weapon for the next turn.
It’s like Disabling Shot; their weapon is out of ammo and thus out of commission until they reload. Might be the next turn, might be later.
The comms hack also applies a one-turn debuff that prevents them from using some special abilities. Not sure what all is included in the list. I’ve yet to see them use grenades or rockets the turn after a hack, but have seen medkits. It’s probably intended to hit all their offensive abilities.
Just wanted to say that I finally did the Exalt base assault…thanks everyone for pointing that out, totally missed it my first play through. It was fairly anticlimactic…by the time I had narrowed it down to one country my guys had plasma weapons and my first team was totally gene modded with all the good stuff, I had 2 of the mechs up to level 2 suits and I basically rolled over them with no issues.
I might try and iron man game next, but I’m thinking that would be too frustrating. Sometimes the rolls are just ridiculous and it would suck to lose a vet trooper to a bad roll. My one concession is I don’t save off during a mission, and unless it goes completely pear shaped I let the chips fall as they will. I’ve lost a few guys (4 so far), but they were all to stupid things I did, not because I missed twice at 98% and then had the alien roll all 6’s and get full crits for max damage.
Anyone using any good mods? I found this one but haven’t tried it yet. Looks like it adds new maps to EW. I guess there isn’t a long war mod for EW (yet? I hope), or anything like it, but if anyone has any good ones feel free to post links here.
In my first playthrough I haven’t done any gene mods so far, only run up two mechs. They are awesome but the gene mods seem feeble in comparison, it’s never been worthwhile investing in it seems to me. What am I missing?
Soldiers with gene mods are “strictly better” than soldiers without, while mech troopers are rather restricted in what they can do. You can have a soldier who gets all the perks of being an Assault and the perks of Ghost Armour and being psionic and gene mods and the extra equipment slots. A mech trooper is just a mech trooper - he can’t even take cover.
Some of the mods are great, some aren’t. The spring leg one pretty much makes skeleton armor superfluous while the chameleon skin makes ghost armour more or less obsolete (plus it’s unlimited, when ghost is I think ?). Which means you’re free to give everyone the bestest armour you’ve got and they’ll still be ultra mobile and camouflaged.
Just having one early invisible dude scouting is really, really ridiculously good, particularly if you’re outmatched in a straight gunfight. One of those plus a squad sight sniper can basically clean house by themselves on some maps.
And the kicker is, you can unlock those two particular mods waaaay earlier than ghost & skeleton, which can be downright unbalancing on the field. But of course if you do that, you’re probably skimping on satellites, or armour, or laser beams. It probably evens out.
Electroskin is eh. It would be better if there were more stealthy aliens, and they were actually dangerous. Which the chokers aren’t, really. It’s usually uncloak, death from crossfire overwatch from the whole team, nice ambush dumbass. They’re only effective when you pop both some chokers and another set of enemies, which you don’t if you’re playing carefully.
Still, being able to spidey-sense what’s behind a door can be neat-ish.
The eye mods are both passable, good to have but nothing to write home about.
Secondary heart is grrrreat to let your favourite dudes survive on Ironman.
Haven’t gotten to the brains yet, but I’m getting the notion that the psy feedback one could be hilarious. Panic immunity sounds pretty cool too, when powerlevelling Rookies for example - then again they already seem to have toned down the panicked friendly fire a lot in EW. Is that just me ?
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I might try and iron man game next, but I’m thinking that would be too frustrating. Sometimes the rolls are just ridiculous and it would suck to lose a vet trooper to a bad roll. My one concession is I don’t save off during a mission, and unless it goes completely pear shaped I let the chips fall as they will. I’ve lost a few guys (4 so far), but they were all to stupid things I did, not because I missed twice at 98% and then had the alien roll all 6’s and get full crits for max damage.
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But that’s the whole joy of Ironman ! Sometimes the RNG just bends you over, and you get to take it in stride and come back from the occasional major loss. That’s X-Com !
Otherwise you’re tempted to save scum your best dudes, and end up quickly having a team of all Colonels gene-modded and medalled out the ass that roll over any opposition effortlessly. With Ironman on, sometimes you actually get to say “fuuuuck thiiiiis” and run back to the Skyranger with your tail between your legs. Then the last survivor and only psyker your had gets cut down in a hail of plasma - mission failed, the US withdraws. Now what, Commander ?
“Why do we fall, Master Bruce ?” 
Ah, see, I never bother building skeleton, archangel or ghost armour, there’s always something more useful to research. The only special purpose one I ever do is the PSI.
You should definitely try out the gene mods. There is one that let’s your soldiers be basically invisible, as long as they run to cover (and they become visible if they fire of course). It allows your snipers, for instance, to run forward and get a site on the enemy for the next round. I have my whole squad (except for the two mec troopers) with that mod, so it allows me to run them all forward, spot the enemy before they see me, and let my snipers get in those first critical shots, then have my assault trooper in place to either take an enemy captive or put the shot gun against their buggy little heads and blow their brains out. Then you move in your mec troopers to clean up. There is another mod that lets your troopers hop up on any building or structure which is nice, and another one that every time they get a kill they send out a buff to near by squad mates increasing their attack. Another mod is custom built for snipers, giving them an additional attack bonus if firing from an elevated position (the secondary one on this increases your attack for the next shot if you miss, which is good for assault and support guys). Finally, there are gene mods that help against psi attacks which all your guys should have.
Seriously, if you have been blowing off getting meld and not investing in the gene mod stuff you should give it a try on your next game. It profoundly changes and enhances your regular troopers, especially the sniper (which is the most useful and powerful troop in my own play style…I have 2 in my primary squad).
I love the archangel armor for my snipers. Hover above the battlefield with Squad sight and all the elevation perks, it’s damn near unfair.
Add “In the Zone” and you’ll really go nuts. It’s like sniper-fu.
Oh wow, you’re right. I always go with Double-Tap, but I’m gonna have to give “In the Zone” a try now.