Who's preordering X-COM?

[AyashiKaibutsu]

But yeah, I only have the base equipment thus far. I think one guy has the next level up armor. Everyone else is using shot guns and assault rifles. And half of my guys were still rookies. So yeah, probably should have let the country go to hell and stick to something a little more my speed. Doh!

I've been chronically restarting (I'm one of those addicted to rerolling people to T.T). Yea it's kind of silly when I play a game and I don't use explosives till a month and a half in and she says it. Like christ how many weapon shards can you use. They're only a dollar!

 

[Rhezuss]

Great game, love it!

How long is the tutorial?

 

[QuantumPion]

Great game, love it!

How long is the tutorial?

Just the first 2 missions, with a couple scripted missions after that.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Just the first 2 missions, with a couple scripted missions after that.

Yea, the first two missions are hardcore click the arrows affairs. Then they hold your hand in the strategic for a while and ease you into the regular game were they just tell you what you should be doing next and expect you to get it done eventually.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

I'm really having fun with this game, though it took me a while to get the hang of it.

Only major annoyance for me is how/when the engine decides to render (or not render) see through walls. Particularly annoying in the UFOs, where I have to continually zoom in to see my squad (i.e., to get the roof of the UFO to become transparent), only to have the roof reappear when my squad executes commands.

Anyone managed to get through a game without having a country leave XCOM yet? I've started 5-6 games now and by the time the Alien Terror attacks at least two countries are fully panicked and one leaves.

 

[QuantumPion]

I'm really having fun with this game, though it took me a while to get the hang of it.

Only major annoyance for me is how/when the engine decides to render (or not render) see through walls. Particularly annoying in the UFOs, where I have to continually zoom in to see my squad (i.e., to get the roof of the UFO to become transparent), only to have the roof reappear when my squad executes commands.

Anyone managed to get through a game without having a country leave XCOM yet? I've started 5-6 games now and by the time the Alien Terror attacks at least two countries are fully panicked and one leaves.

I'm mostly through my first normal difficulty game, I've lost no countries, have full satellite coverage, and global panic level is 1 or 2.

 

[PowerYoga]

normal is too easy really, the panic levels don't rise at all.

I wish they'd toss in a difficulty between normal and classic, since classic is whopping my butt right now and I'm not even playing iron man.

 

[clok1966]

The AI is frustrating in the early missions.. your 4 verses ther 3-4 groups of 2-3.. you should have the upperhand 4 vs 2 (or 3) if you are carefull.. but they just sit.. and sit.. and sit.. dont like that. If the orginal X-Com had a flaw it was the horrible slow pace of moving into position.. this one has solved that (pretty much) with the sprint option. But to often I feel like im playing and IA that does ONE THING.. take any enemy in view and says is there anyplace with cover from all hostils in view? and moves to it.. it wont advance unless there is a guy in open or cover.. NOW I KNOW that makes perfect sense.. Im not arguing that.. but there is no random, no suprise at all (except LOS, aliens appearing as you move into LOS). Some random in the AI would spice things up. And when i say that.. not some stupid bull rush (but that could be hairy if done right) but falling back and losing LOS and circleing around, or spliting apart so you have to split your team.. heck I dont know.. not just We are on game square 99.. do not move more then 10 spaces in any direction, alwasy find best cover, move extra spaces ONLY if there is no cover. I'm saying its predictible to a fualt. if the battlegrounds where a bit bigger it would be easy to exploit (leave one guy in view and do a huge circle around) most aliens (as far as i can tell) do not leave the ara they are in (they do move, just not much) untill they view an enemy. On screens with 2-3 groups of aliens.. when one groups spots you, the other groups do not seem to assist.. unless you spot them.

Keep in mind i have not played the gameto end, I have only done a few missions so it may change alot.. in fact Im sucking hard (even as I sit and say the AI is predictible) and dying lots.. but as i do Im seeing this pattern (or percieved pattern). I love the game and its fine the way it is.. I just want a floater to use building tops to get behind me.. not just to have an advantage for shooting down at me.

I sure do wonder. My skills must have been lost with all the MMORPG i been playing.. I remeber the original X-Coms as hard, but On classic im getting toasted non stop.

 

[Sureshot324]

My biggest complaint about the AI is the MMO style aggro system, where they all stay in place until you get into aggro range. This forces you into a very defensive style, since even if you are in the middle of a battle, advancing towards the enemy is extremely risky because you could aggro a second group.

 

[CPA]

The AI is frustrating in the early missions.. your 4 verses ther 3-4 groups of 2-3.. you should have the upperhand 4 vs 2 (or 3) if you are carefull.. but they just sit.. and sit.. and sit.. dont like that. If the orginal X-Com had a flaw it was the horrible slow pace of moving into position.. this one has solved that (pretty much) with the sprint option. But to often I feel like im playing and IA that does ONE THING.. take any enemy in view and says is there anyplace with cover from all hostils in view? and moves to it.. it wont advance unless there is a guy in open or cover.. NOW I KNOW that makes perfect sense.. Im not arguing that.. but there is no random, no suprise at all (except LOS, aliens appearing as you move into LOS). Some random in the AI would spice things up. And when i say that.. not some stupid bull rush (but that could be hairy if done right) but falling back and losing LOS and circleing around, or spliting apart so you have to split your team.. heck I dont know.. not just We are on game square 99.. do not move more then 10 spaces in any direction, alwasy find best cover, move extra spaces ONLY if there is no cover. I'm saying its predictible to a fualt. if the battlegrounds where a bit bigger it would be easy to exploit (leave one guy in view and do a huge circle around) most aliens (as far as i can tell) do not leave the ara they are in (they do move, just not much) untill they view an enemy. On screens with 2-3 groups of aliens.. when one groups spots you, the other groups do not seem to assist.. unless you spot them.

Keep in mind i have not played the gameto end, I have only done a few missions so it may change alot.. in fact Im sucking hard (even as I sit and say the AI is predictible) and dying lots.. but as i do Im seeing this pattern (or percieved pattern). I love the game and its fine the way it is.. I just want a floater to use building tops to get behind me.. not just to have an advantage for shooting down at me.

I sure do wonder. My skills must have been lost with all the MMORPG i been playing.. I remeber the original X-Coms as hard, but On classic im getting toasted non stop.

What I love is when a soldier yells out "He's falling back!" as the alien is moving towards the soldier. lol.

 

[QuantumPion]

What I love is when a soldier yells out "He's falling back!" as the alien is moving towards the soldier. lol.

I think they say that when the aliens move to cover and hunker down instead of shooting. If the nearest cover happens to be closer to you, oh well.

 

[thespyder]

What I love is when a soldier yells out "He's falling back!" as the alien is moving towards the soldier. lol.

It is beginning to get annoying when they say "Adjusting Aim". Means they missed the shot. LOL. Own it guys.

 

[nanobreath]

What I love is when a soldier yells out "He's falling back!" as the alien is moving towards the soldier. lol.

When they first started saying this, the alien always retreated. But now that I'm fighting mainly mutons and cyberdiscs, it seems to mean jack shit. "They are falling back!" Muton runs toward them and blasts them in the face...

Bastards made me think I had forced them into retreating already, but nooooo. Dead fucking soldier got what he deserved.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

My biggest complaint about the AI is the MMO style aggro system, where they all stay in place until you get into aggro range. This forces you into a very defensive style, since even if you are in the middle of a battle, advancing towards the enemy is extremely risky because you could aggro a second group.

They don't actually stay in place, but if you can't see them their movement is teleporting around and they remain in a state of being deactivated. So as long as you don't see them first they'll never fire the first shot, which is still pretty lame. I'm also pretty sure you can make nearby groups move towards you by making noise (shooting/breaking windows) or by having retreating enemies move towards them, but once again they remain deactivated until seen (even if they're the ones that move into your field of vision). I one time just barely spotted a set of units, but didn't activate them by a bug probably. They stayed revealed even in fog and I could see how they moved around the map, which was by short teleport hops, although I imagine some groups probably remain stationary too.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

When they first started saying this, the alien always retreated. But now that I'm fighting mainly mutons and cyberdiscs, it seems to mean jack shit. "They are falling back!" Muton runs toward them and blasts them in the face...

Bastards made me think I had forced them into retreating already, but nooooo. Dead fucking soldier got what he deserved.

Them saying that just means their will broke, which includes going berserk I take it. Still stupid.

 

[QuantumPion]

 

[QuantumPion]

I just did a terror mission in an office building. There was a sectopod on the 2nd floor just chilling behind some filing cabinets. I was like hey how did you get up here... lol.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

I just did a terror mission in an office building. There was a sectopod on the 2nd floor just chilling behind some filing cabinets. I was like hey how did you get up here... lol.

obviously

 

[Mem]

Finally got my new HD and Win7 OS installed,installing X-COM now so any tips before I get into the game?

 

[kevinsbane]

Finally got my new HD and Win7 OS installed,installing X-COM now so any tips before I get into the game?

Satellites. And Satellite uplinks.

 

[Mem]

Satellites. And Satellite uplinks.

Ok thanks!... probably give it a good play tonight,still got some more software to install.

 

[irishScott]

Satellites. And Satellite uplinks.

and Engineers.

 

[Ganeedi]

Don't play classic hardcore your first go around!

 

[PowerYoga]

and Engineers.

Dig for steam early and fast. You probably need a generator to power your 2nd satcom and steam is as good as it gets early game. Link the satcoms in a 2x2 formation so you get +2 satellite bonuses.

and engineers.

If you have a choice between missions:

1) lower panic
2) engineers
3) engineers
4) money
5) scientists

Workshops are good if you're low on engineers. Link them so you get bonnus.

 

[irishScott]

normal is too easy really, the panic levels don't rise at all.

I wish they'd toss in a difficulty between normal and classic, since classic is whopping my butt right now and I'm not even playing iron man.

I've found the key with classic is to be VERY conservative in combat. On normal I'd be running around, clearing rooms and such. Doing that on classic means runnning into alien overwatches and worse, activating other alien groups. More than once I got my squad swarmed and wiped out by sectoids playing normal-style (12 sectoids vs 4 soldiers, ain't happening). This is especially true if going after a landing, as all of the aiens have survived and if you directly assault the ship you'll end up facing the entire crew at once.

So I typically find the nearest heavy cover and sit tight until their patrols come around, then go hunting after I've eliminated 2 or 3.