• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

XCOM 2 |OT| Be Aggressive! Be Be Aggressive!

Sober

Member
ztlAk04.png

Developer: Firaxis
Publisher: 2K
Platform: Windows; Mac and Linux by Feral Interactive
Release Date: 5 February 2016

Official Website | Reveal Trailer | "Retaliation" Trailer

GAF-COM Recruitment Standards | GAF-COM Secure Log-In


Twenty years have passed since world leaders offered an unconditional surrender to alien forces and XCOM, the planet's last line of defense, was left decimated and scattered. Now the aliens rule Earth, building shining cities that promise a brilliant future for humanity on the surface, while concealing a sinister agenda below and eliminating all who dissent from their new order. Only those who live at the edges of the world have a margin of freedom. Here, a force gathers once again to stand up for humanity. Always on the run, the remnant XCOM forces must find a way to rise from the ashes, expose the insidious truth behind the occupation, and eliminate the alien threat once and for all.​

  • Take command of the Avenger, an alien supply craft converted to XCOM’s mobile headquarters. New open-ended gameplay lets you decide where to guide your strike team, how to grow popular support, and when to combat enemy counter-operations.
  • Five soldier classes, each with its own skill tree, let you create specific soldiers for your tactical plan.
  • New gameplay systems offer more tactical flexibility in combat. Use concealment to ambush enemy patrols. Loot enemies for precious gear and artifacts. Rescue VIPs and save fallen comrades by carrying them to the extraction point.
  • A diverse cast of enemies from powerful new alien species to the ADVENT, enforcers of the alien regime, offer a distinct tactical challenge.
  • Configure and build rooms on the Avenger to give XCOM new capabilities on the battlefield. Use your Scientists and Engineers to research, develop and upgrade weapons and armor to fit your preferred tactics.
  • Go on missions around the world, from wildlands to the heart of the alien-controlled megacities, to the depths of alien installations. There are virtually infinite combinations of maps, missions and goals.
  • Community-focused tools allow you to create your own campaign, tactical gameplay, aliens, classes, strategy game features, and share within the Steam Workshop.
  • Mix-and-match squads of humans and aliens and battle head-to-head on randomly-generated maps in multiplayer.

Each class has two archetypes if you exclusively move down one side of the skills tree. However you can always mix and match skills from both sides of the tree. Each archetype dramatically changes how the class plays, effectively giving you 8 classes from the 4 base classes.

There are also many more abilities that allow for free actions and refunds on actions provided you meet the conditions of the skill (or just letting you target multiple enemies in a turn), effectively allowing you more than the 2 actions per turn limit you normally get.​

2PFMjJj.png

  • When a soldier is trained as a RANGER, they receive the Slash ability, allowing them to attack in melee at adjacent tiles with a sword, even at the diagonals and over low cover. They are also equipped with a shotgun as their primary weapon.
  • The SCOUT archetype allows the Ranger to take full advantage of concealment, even when the rest of your team breaks concealment, allowing your ranger to move ahead and reposition even in the middle of combat.
  • The ASSAULT archetype augments the ability of your melee weapon to turn your Ranger into a melee expert, even allowing you to become so aggressive that you can easily dart out into the open and cut down entire pods. RULES OF NATURE!
  • Ranger class skills overview (YouTube)

QzCP4em.png

  • The SPECIALIST receives a drone called the GREMLIN, that can be used in both defensive and offensive methods depending on how you specialize. Like other weapons and equipment, upgrading the GREMLIN also affects the abilities tied to the GREMLIN.
  • The BATTLE MEDIC archetype both allows for and augments the healing abilities of the Specialist's GREMLIN, letting you heal and revive units from range. There also also perks that allow for enhanced overwatch abilities from the Specialist.
  • The COMBAT HACKER archetype turns the Specialist's GREMLIN into an offensive tool, allowing you guaranteed damage and allowing you to hack robotic enemies. There also also perks that allow for enhanced overwatch abilities from the Specialist.
  • Specialist class skill overview (YouTube)

xi4cG3U.png

  • The GRENADIER is armed with a minigun that does dramatically more damage than other small arms, and receives a grenade launcher that allows the grenadier to fire grenades from their inventory with increased range and efficiency.
  • The HEAVY GUNNER archetype allows the minigun to become a powerful utility item that debuffs enemies, strips armour and destroys cover, or to do guaranteed damage.
  • The DEMOLITIONS EXPERT archetype takes advantage of the grenade launcher to augment the use of grenades from the Grenadier, including range, damage and effects of grenades carried.
  • Grenadier class skill overview (YouTube)

zicw2uZ.png

  • A SHARPSHOOTER is granted squadsight, effectively allowing you infinite range as long as you have line of sight to that target, with an aim penalty. Sharpshooters are equipped with a sniper rifle as well as a pistol that effectively has infinite ammo as a backup weapon.
  • The SNIPER archetype turns your Sharpshooter into a powerful, long range expert, letting you wipe out enemies from essentially infinite range.
  • The GUNSLINGER archetype turns your sharpshooter into a pistol expert, allowing you to fire your pistol at almost an unlimited number of times in a single round at just about as many enemies as you can wrangle together.
  • Sharpshooter class skills overview (YouTube)

fh88YgY.png

  • The PSI OPERATIVE is equipped with a Psionic Amplifier, which is equipment that allows for the use of psionic abilities and any upgrades towards it will in turn improve the effects of the operative's psionic abilities.
  • Level-ups are done through training in-base, not battlefield experience. When training completes, you are given a choice of three random abilities to pick from and can vary wildly from any rank of abilities. It is possible to learn all abilities but would take a considerable amount of time.
  • The Psi Operative also gains the PSI stat, which is used for psionic attacks against an opponent's WILL score.
  • Psi Operative class skills overview (YouTube)


Q: I heard there's time limits in this game?
A: There are no time limits but certain missions place turn limits to achieve certain objectives or there is more pressure to move forward rather than overwatch camping in a corner of a map.

Sometimes a turn limit is enforced the entire mission, or sometimes it is only pertinent to an objective and following that, you are free to take as many turns as you need to evac or eliminate the enemy.

A similar thing has changed in terror missions where you must rescue a considerable number of civilians (up from one (1) in EU2012/EW) to consider the mission a success. You are still free to disregard the turn limit or objective if you wish. But to what goal, I don't know.

Q: There's a season pass? What's in the season pass?
A: Details of the Reinforcement Pack can be found by checking the Steam store page. It gets you access to three DLC packs, all of them allow more customization features and the latter two packs will introduce some gameplay changes from what it sounds like.

Q: Wait, why is XCOM2 PC only? I thought EU2012 and EW released for Xbox 360 and PS3?
A: As discussed a thousand times, Firaxis wanted to put all their development time into a PC exclusive version (read more). That's not to say it might not also release later but they've decided to focus their efforts on the PC version to allow for things like procedurally generated maps and robust mod support.

Q: Tell me about mod support?
A: Firaxis has worked with mod creators to do their best to allow XCOM 2 to be as highly moddable as possible. Previously, in EU2012/Enemy Within, the most modding you could do was with hex editing, and you were still basically working on variations of whatever mechanics already existed or using strings that were cut out during development to let you use for additional 'stuff'.

Needless to say, modding XCOM 2 is going to be much more open. Steam Workshop support will be out on day one, as well as three mods from Long War Studios that will also be available at launch. (Read more here)

Q: Wait, what about controller support?
A: As of this moment, there will be an official Steam Controller profile for XCOM 2 at launch, but gamepad support will be patched in at a later time. Or, maybe even expect someone to write a mod for it!​


Screenshots

***Special Thanks to Nete who is arranging all things GAF-COM (graphics and text) !
 

Sober

Member
P74JSCO.png

Hello citizen, and welcome to the GAF-COM recruitment office.

Although our resources aren't what they used to be, we are planning an imminent offensive and we are going to need any capable man and woman... and that means WE NEED YOU! Do you have advanced knowledge in ADVENT technology or engineering? Or do you want to serve in the field, either as one of our agents or one of our
expendable
soldiers? Whatever is your answer, you are in the right place!

If you are a filthy traitor working for the invader... that's alright, we also want you! It's always good to know to whom do we need to shoot at.

Enlist now to GAF-COM, and help us ban the aliens from Earth!


Rules:


  • Only one character per user. This may change in the future, but let's keep it simple for now.
  • Biographies must be written in English.
  • Your GAF handle must be used as Last Name. The idea of this Character Pool is to play with characters representing GAF users, not with characters created by them. You can use whatever you want as First Name and Nickname.
  • "Can Appear as Soldier" must be checked. If you also want to check to be a VIP (AKA Scientist or Engineer at random) and/or a Dark VIP (AKA guy to kidnap or assassinate), it's alright.
  • Be civil. We are (mostly) adults here, but let's try to not create something too offensive.
  • If in the future you want to update your character, just send it again.
  • The downloadable file will be constantly updated with new submissions.
Useful info to know:


  • If you leave the Nickname blank, the game will randomly give you one when promoted.
  • If you want to leave your First Name blank, you can use Alt-0160 to type a blank space.
  • If you use any prop included in a DLC, those who may don't have it will see a default/random prop.
  • Selecting a class does not guarantee you will be promoted to it when the games selects you to be a rookie.
  • You can change what source of characters the game priorizes when it needs to add more guys, Character Pool or Random dudes. By default, it mixes both. To do so, open this file with a text editor (Notepad, Notepad++...): "Documents\My Games\XCOM2\XComGame\Config\XComGameData.ini" and search for the next lines:
    InitialSoldiersCharacterPoolSelectionMode=eCPSM_Mixed
    Affects starting characters.
    RewardUnitCharacterPoolSelectionMode=eCPSM_Mixed
    Affects characters appearing as mission rewards.
    RecruitsCharacterPoolSelectionMode=eCPSM_Mixed
    Affects recruitable characters.
    You can change the "Mixed" (Pool and Random dudes for equal) on each line with "PoolOnly" or "RandomOnly" to force the game to use only characters from each source. As far as I know, if there aren't enough Pool guys the game will spawn extra Random dudes when needed.












 

Sober

Member

WELCOME TO THE GAF-COM SECURE DATABASE. PLEASE LOG-IN WITH YOUR GAF-COM CREDENTIALS TO CONTINUE.



How to join GAF-COM:


  • Create your character using the Character Pool -> Create Character tools in the Main Menu.
  • Export your character, selecting it and using Export Selection. Create a new Character Pool with your GAF name, and select it, appearing a confirmation message. This should create a 3-4KB .bin file with that name at "Documents\My Games\XCOM2\XComGame\CharacterPool\Importable"
  • Send that file to the email address you'll see here --> <-- when quoting this message, including in the email the next information:
    GAF username:
    Full character name:​
How to use the Pool:


  • Download the GAF Pool file from the link below.
  • Copy the GAF-COM.bin file to "Documents\My Games\XCOM2\XComGame\CharacterPool\Importable"
  • Go to the Character Pool screen, Import Character, and select GAF-COM.
  • Select "Import Entire Pool" to add everybody to your Character Pool, or add single characters one by one.

Download link: GAF-COM roster (last updated: 14 Feb)
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
Unlocks in roughly 6 hours in NZ. I'm considering staying up to 3am just to reach the menu screen.

A little under 10 hours. AU, NZ and Asia are all "zone 1".

As an aside, I've slapped together a PC performance thread that will be posted shortly after the game unlocks (I first need to complete the "Graphics settings" section).
 

Wunder

Member
Insanely excited for this. Somehow managed to get my steam to say it unlocks in 10 hours (Zone 1) even though I'm in Zone 2. I hope it's for real and I don't get excited and have to wait another 5 hours.

Anyone recieve their key from GMG yet?

Yeah they sent them out yesterday
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
I give this thread 3 Mutons 4 Chryssalids and half a Sectopod
 

Sub Zero

his body's cold as ice, but he's got a heart of gold
I am very concered about the performance. If TB's monster rig suffered constant frame drops with AA turned off, I imagine my poor GTX 760 will have a lot of trouble running this at an acceptable level
 
Insanely excited for this. Somehow managed to get my steam to say it unlocks in 10 hours (Zone 1) even though I'm in Zone 2. I hope it's for real and I don't get excited and have to wait another 5 hours.



Yeah they sent them out yesterday

I need to contact them then. Pre ordered a long time ago. I'll take another look through my mail. Maybe I missed it somehow.
 

Random17

Member
A little under 10 hours. AU, NZ and Asia are all "zone 1".

As an aside, I've slapped together a PC performance thread that will be posted shortly after the game unlocks (I first need to complete the "Graphics settings" section).

Edit: NVM, I'm an idiot and just had a brain fart.
 

jorma

is now taking requests
Sucks that i don't have a computer that can run this, because i've been watching it streamed on twitch for hours and it looks soooo good.

Tempted to buy a new computer just for this.
 

Sblargh

Banned
Ok, GAF.
Questions about your very first playthrough.

1. Difficulty? Ironman or no?
2. How do you plan to customize soldiers? Silly? Serious? Real People? Not customize?
3. Will you create some characters on the character pool before playing or let everyone be born on the battlefield?
4. Long War Studio mods? Yay or nay?
5. Do you have an epitaph ready for your very first casualty?
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
Unless I am mistaken or the picture is misleading, 5am AEDT = 3am NZST??? It's 9:30pm NZST right now.

Ah, right. I just assumed the little footnotes were conversions, haha. Well, I hope Valve is aware of them, because otherwise it's unlocking in ~9.5 hours as per the store page.
 

Sub Zero

his body's cold as ice, but he's got a heart of gold
What was TB running it with?

From his YT page
CPU: Intel Core i7-5930K @ 4.0ghz.
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4-2800
BOARD: ASUS Rampage V Extreme COOLER: Corsair H110i
GPU: 2x Nvidia Geforce Titan X
SSDs: 3x Sandisk Extreme Pro 480gb
OS: Windows 7 x64 Ultimate.
DISPLAY: Asus ROG SWIFT PG278Q 1440p 144hz G-sync monitor.
Capture: DXTory/FRAPs
Microphone: EV RE20
Audio interface: RME Babyface.
 

Sblargh

Banned
What's the recommended difficulty for EU veterans?

I guess if you feel comfortable playing classic or impossible on EU; commander (the 3rd out of 4 difficulties) is the one.
I think veteran (2nd out of 4) are either for new players or for people who never made the jump from normal to classic on EU.
 

Random17

Member
Ah, right. I just assumed the little footnotes were conversions, haha. Well, I hope Valve is aware of them, because otherwise it's unlocking in ~9.5 hours as per the store page.

Actually you're right, ignore my earlier comment, I had a brain fart and got it mixed up. 5am AEDT is 7am NZST, which is 10 hours ahead.
 

Mr Swine

Banned
So will there be random generated levels in the game? Will there be mechs like in EW? I haven't read anything about the game but watched a stream.

SO HYPED FOR THIS!
 

ISee

Member
What's the recommended difficulty for EU veterans?

New game mechanics, more pressure during missions and on the world map, new classes and skills, new enemys etc. TB claims that normal is too easy for xcom veterans but I'll go for normal anyway on my first playthrough because I want to learn about the new stuff myself so I can plan accordingly for higher difficulties.
 

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
Locked and (Pre)Loaded

SMG, Muton Elite, and Leader Class on launch is pretty nice too (Long War Studio mods).
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
Actually you're right, ignore my earlier comment, I had a brain fart and got it mixed up. 5am AEDT is 7am NZST, which is 10 hours ahead.

Haha, well, at least you can get a decent night's sleep now. ;)
 
Top Bottom