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 CthuluIsSpy wrote:
Well, I started Normal Mode Iron man.
Bloody hell the difficulty is certainly ramped up!
First Terror mission was a disaster. I had to abort it with my last surviving soldier.

Just wait until you try it on Classic. Terror missions are ridiculously difficult there. I hate to imagine the difficulty of impossible!

I started out on classic mode, carefully worked my way up and got to my first terror mission. I'm on the collapsed bridge and slowly working my way up, saving civs up to the huge dropoff overlooking the lower area. That's where I first saw them. A squad of floaters was sitting out in the open, I traded with them only to watch a pair of crysalids and a zombified civilian rush up to my line. There was no escaping at that point ;_;

Second time I got to the first terror mission? I took the inital move to cover from the DZ and watched as a group of crysalids poured out of the nearby building. I was about to contain them when floaters showed up and made a mess of the situation. I barely made it out with two of my guys.

Normal, in comparison, was easy. I swaped to normal just to get a more of a handle on the mechanics after getting curbstomped on classic for a while. I only lost one trooper on the first terror mission due to a misjudge on where the remaining crysalid would go next. She had to sacrifice herself on the beast with a grenade to make sure she didn't zombify. She was a valiant heavy weapons trooper and will be missed ;_;

I'm now back to classic. I get so close to doing well and then the game just kicks me in the crotch every time. It gets frustrating when your troopers miss a target at a 96% to hit and the xenos turn around and TPK you.

 sebster wrote:

Does anyone know if Disabling Shot works on robot enemies like the Sectopod?

The Sectopod has 3 weapon systems so it doesn't seem to work. One of the weapon pods gets a 'disabled' looking particle effect but it was still able to use its beam cannon, at least it did the only time I tried it.

Lately I've stumbled about this little info: Second Wave
Its' either something that didn't make it into the game and was dropped or possibly a future patch / DLC.

Palindrome wrote:

 sebster wrote:

Does anyone know if Disabling Shot works on robot enemies like the Sectopod?

The Sectopod has 3 weapon systems so it doesn't seem to work. One of the weapon pods gets a 'disabled' looking particle effect but it was still able to use its beam cannon, at least it did the only time I tried it.

I 'disabled' my first few Sectopods just fine, at least I assume I did, because I never even saw the beam (or grenade launcher) until the one time I didn't have a Sniper handy. Lost a lot of good men that time.

Allow me to tell you a story of how the RNG absolutely decided to stab me in the back just now.

Routine abduction mission early in a game. I have one of each class at initial promotion levels, so nothing special. I'm mostly trying to focus on leveling my sniper so he has squad sight. I slowly move my forces up, taking a few hits, but slowly taking out the sectoids as I advance. I move my sniper into a position where he can hit majority of their forces from cover.

Of course, the aliens were having none of that and they focused fire on him. It took majority of their troops, but they finally brought him down on their turn. I would have been disappointed but okay with that result if that were the only thing that happened. But my assault decided to fail his will check and panic. Again, this would normally be okay if it weren't for the burning vehicle he was hiding next to.

....damn, so now I'm left with just a support and heavy weapons guy. The enemy is kinda clustered, I'll just lob a rocket down range to make it easier for my last two guys to mop up and go home. Or that was the plan, as my rocket failed to launch, hit a vehicle near my support and set off a chain reaction of explosions to kill him.

That left my heavy weapons vs the world. The xenos knew it too and they brought the pain. He did not survive long at all ;_;

And that, is why I love this game. Crap happens and you get stories like that. "The misfortunes of Alpha Team" you shall be remembered.

Finished it. Not as good as i was hoping really. Its still a good game but I wouldn't call it great.

I love when my guys panic and shoot each other. Really makes me proud.

Normal was a little too easy. Classic Ironman is much more exciting.

Mn, after playing through to the end a second time, I'll say I rank this up about equal with apocalypse.

Apocalypse has such an awesome and memorable visual style, is the main reason it stands out for me.

Certainly it's better than the original UFO Defense though. And way better than terror from the deep.

I would say the tactical layer is superior to the original, though the strategic layer (geoscape, interceptors, whatever) is a bit lacking. Not terrible, mind you, but there could have been more.
Man, check out the 2k forums! The amount of neckbeardy butthurt is incredible.

The tactical layer of the original was definitely inferior to that of Apocalypse, at least.

Frankly Apocalypse is better than the original in almost every way.

 Melissia wrote:
The tactical layer of the original was definitely inferior to that of Apocalypse, at least.

Frankly Apocalypse is better than the original in almost every way.

Yeah, I liked apocalypse too. It had its issues (too colorful for my tastes, real-time felt awkward to me, etc) but it was a great game.
And it handled psi-powers a lot better than in the UFO:EU!

Actually I loved its colorful style.

It was fun and interesting to watch.

I'd love to see an X-Com: Apocalypse Reloaded in the same style of X-Com: Enemy Unknown. Build upon XC:EU and add more features, such as base management/defense, the cityscape, expanded research and equipment choices, etc. Using apocalypse's uniquely original style to fit modern graphics would be quite interesting, and there's plenty of room for improvement in both XC:A and XC:EU.

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:
Yeah, I liked apocalypse too. It had its issues (too colorful for my tastes, real-time felt awkward to me, etc) but it was a great game.
And it handled psi-powers a lot better than in the UFO:EU!

I almost always played real time in apocalypse. The little brainsuckers were impossible to kill for my man in turn based games. I could leave all my squad on overwatch but this little sucker still got through. Maybe this game just hated me

I didn't like aerial combat. It was so random. One time UFO went down smoothly, next time same type downed two fighters and devastated half a city.

Also, the aliens were a bit.. comical..?
The hamster, the worm, the bigger worm, the spitting eggplant, the guy without head that's spitting acid from his neck. It made sense from the big picture but still.
Most mechanics were a big step forward from Enemy and Terror but the fear was gone.

 Macok wrote:

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:


Also, the aliens were a bit.. comical..?
The hamster, the worm, the bigger worm, the spitting eggplant, the guy without head that's spitting acid from his neck. It made sense from the big picture but still.
Most mechanics were a big step forward from Enemy and Terror but the fear was gone.

I think it was just the graphical style. With a different style, they could have been pretty nightmarish.

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:
I would say the tactical layer is superior to the original, though the strategic layer (geoscape, interceptors, whatever) is a bit lacking. Not terrible, mind you, but there could have been more.

I would agree with that assessment and add that its is much better at conveying the story, as little as there is of it. The personal touch with the 3 NPCs is nice.

I have a few issues with it that I also had with Apocalypse. The pacing is too rigid and the game is a bit too long for successive play-throughs. I have probably beaten the original 50 times but I only beat Apocalypse twice, and aborted midway a few times, because at some point is just becomes a chore and the game just won't let you advance until you reach a certain point. There's also no way to get a leg up on the aliens, whereas in the original, if you did really well early on and attained air superiority, you could start dictating the terms of engagement.

So it's too hard for you?

 Melissia wrote:
So it's too hard for you?

That's not what he wrote.

Chore doesn't equal difficulty. It just means there's a grind involved.

I don't know if I agree with that assessment, but I certainly didn't read
that the game was too difficult in Blackfang's statement.

So because he was unable to gain a distinct advantage and breeze through the game, it doesn't mean it was hard, it just means it was too much work?

Because that's what he was complaining about-- he was unable to get such a major advantage that he could sail through the game with ease.

 Melissia wrote:
So because he was unable to gain a distinct advantage and breeze through the game, it doesn't mean it was hard, it just means it was too much work?

Because that's what he was complaining about-- he was unable to get such a major advantage that he could sail through the game with ease.

No, thats not hat he said.

And in fact its the same issue im having, theres no way of even keeping pace with the aliens most of the time, which leads to a major grind to get to the next stage, its very annoying (even on easy weirdly, which i wanted to do for the story and its just holding me up having to do the same missions over and over just to get enough resources to unlock the next upgrade/vehicle/building/whatever, which is then seemingly invalidated when the next enemy shows up, its fething annoying).

being a chore/grindfest is not the same as being too hard.

One of the best ways to keep up with the aliens is to take alien gear and use it yourself.

Yeah, i know, but you cant necessarily do that without researching it, which requires resources/time etc. and that presupposes that there is any more tech to use (there isnt, apart from a couple of firestorm weapons and the blaster launcher), the problem now is health.

The enemy has a wealth of it, which seems to increase every couple of missions (except sectoids/thin men which i still weirdly encounter every now and then) and i have no answer for as my weapons still do the same damage, and i still have the same health as i have the best armour as well...

Better tactics, perhaps?

Dunno. My problem was always forgetting to upgrade my fleet.

Well, reading this thread and a couple of vids has all but convinced me to buy the game [when i have more time]. Love turn-based and tactical games and it really fits with my work schedule.

Couple of questions. I'm a pretty good gamer usually IMHO and am happy to be punished *heh* and have squad members kick the bucket (preferably not all the time though), so I'm thinking Iron Man or Classic will work nicely, but which, for my first time playing XCOM?

Also, is the tutorial worth doing or not?

Depends. Are you the kind of person who forgets to save all the time? I'd recommend ironman mode if you're gonna forget to save anyway.

The tutorial is wroth doing exactly once.

 Melissia wrote:
Better tactics, perhaps?

Dunno. My problem was always forgetting to upgrade my fleet.

Perhaps, i could do with not rushing on certain maps/missions, but there isnt always a better option available (a sectopod glitch-spawning on top of a doorway for example, with only one way of getting a shot at it in no cover...yeah, took losses in that mission). Even if there is, it doesnt help that the enemy is constantly getting better when you are stuck at the same level (the best available as it happens) and therefore constantly being on the back foot, it is annoying.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Just Dave wrote:
Well, reading this thread and a couple of vids has all but convinced me to buy the game [when i have more time]. Love turn-based and tactical games and it really fits with my work schedule.

Couple of questions. I'm a pretty good gamer usually IMHO and am happy to be punished *heh* and have squad members kick the bucket (preferably not all the time though), so I'm thinking Iron Man or Classic will work nicely, but which, for my first time playing XCOM?

Also, is the tutorial worth doing or not?

Do it, it really is a great game (despite my bitching ).

it depends on whether you are the sort of gamer to go back and do something again to see if you can do it better, or for having a safe option of a reload, in this case ironman isnt for you...but if you are happy to take the punishment for a mistake then go for it (and classic will punish you from what ive heard of it)...

id do it every time purely for the upgraded trooper you get out of it, its very highly scripted, but does what its meant to do very well (teach you the basics) and gives a bit of a leg up for the next mission IMO...

 Just Dave wrote:
Couple of questions. I'm a pretty good gamer usually IMHO and am happy to be punished *heh* and have squad members kick the bucket (preferably not all the time though), so I'm thinking Iron Man or Classic will work nicely, but which, for my first time playing XCOM?

Also, is the tutorial worth doing or not?

For the first game I'd go Normal Ironman.
You can change difficulty any time mid game so if you feel it's too easy just switch to Classic.

Tutorial is ok. Shows everything you need to know.

As for forgetting to save. There is an autosave option so that was never a problem for me.

Dunno,. I LIKE the desperation that the game induces. It's thematic.

 Melissia wrote:
Dunno,. I LIKE the desperation that the game induces. It's thematic.

I agree. My first playthrough was Normal/Ironman and I won without much difficulty, though the final battle came down to one shot... 41% chance to hit, if I hit I win the game and if I miss I lose the game. Luckily for me, agent "Mr. Clean" was on his game.

I then switched to Classic/Ironman, which required several tries and was generally much more difficult. In the end, though, I prevailed, and had a blast doing it. The added desperation and risk of Classic difficulty really helps you get into the game more.