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[McNum]

Thanks. How do I get satellites?

Build them in engineering. They have a base cost of 100 Credits, but the more Engineers you have, the cheaper they become. You need Uplinks to use them, each one can handle two sats and there's an upgrade later that lets you build rooms that can handle four. If you lace them next to each other, you get a freebie uplink, so two Uplink Facilities next to each other grant you five links instead of just four. This stacks, so try to build the rooms close to each other.

Oh, and do I need to restart evertime I loose a solider? They are dieing all the time...

That's XCOM, baby. Some missions are nearly impossible to get through without losing a soldier. But if you keep losing them, you may need to rethink your tactics. Are you using cover? Are you using grenades to blow up enemy cover? Are you getting flanked?

A good tip that a lot of people might not think about is this: DON'T SPRINT! Never, ever do a double move unless you really, REALLY, need that defense bonus for running. Single moves, cover to cover.

Never expose new areas with a soldier who has used both his turns. Move to cover. See any aliens? No? Overwatch. See a few aliens? Decide if you can take 'em this turn. See a lot of nasty aliens? Retreat to better cover, throw a smoke grenade on your guys, and have everyone on Overwatch or Hunker Down. Then pray.

 

[Raptomex]

I'm at work. But I bought this from Steam today via my phone. So what am I in for. I should mention I suck at strategy games but as I've gotten older I've gained more of an interest in them. This caught my eye a while back and I was just waiting for the price to lower. What's the replay value here and other than the storyline and multiplayer are there any other modes?

 

[McNum]

I'm at work. But I bought this from Steam today via my phone. So what am I in for. I should mention I suck at strategy games but as I've gotten older I've gained more of an interest in them. This caught my eye a while back and I was just waiting for the price to lower. What's the replay value here and other than the storyline and multiplayer are there any other modes?

The replay value is that no two games are exactly alike. There's no universal winning strategy, only things that are usually a good idea, like making satellites. Also it has several difficulty levels, Classic is a whole new nightmare, and if you get good enough to regularly beat that, there's always Impossible, which nearly lives up to its name.

As for multiplayer, it's... not really the big selling point here. It's the semi-random singleplayer campaign that's the real draw.

 

[Raptomex]

The replay value is that no two games are exactly alike. There's no universal winning strategy, only things that are usually a good idea, like making satellites. Also it has several difficulty levels, Classic is a whole new nightmare, and if you get good enough to regularly beat that, there's always Impossible, which nearly lives up to its name.

As for multiplayer, it's... not really the big selling point here. It's the semi-random singleplayer campaign that's the real draw.

That's all I needed to hear and I'm not really a multiplayer guy anyway. Thanks.

 

[Zertez]

They really missed out not releasing more DLC. I dont think they expected the game to sell as well as it did, but still it is surprising Firaxis didnt have some DLC packs planned out just in case. Given Firaxis track record with Civilization and expansions/DLC, it is even more surprising. I guess most of their resources went into porting the game over to Apple products. It is getting kind of late to release DLC, maybe they decided to work on a sequel at this point instead.

 

[ElyrionX]

Started playing this yesterday. This game is pure crack. Been reading a lot and I think I have a good grasp of most stuff now. Only thing left is interceptors. How important are these and how many do I need per country? What's the best or most efficent way to upgrade them?

 

[Thrakier]

Started playing this yesterday. This game is pure crack. Been reading a lot and I think I have a good grasp of most stuff now. Only thing left is interceptors. How important are these and how many do I need per country? What's the best or most efficent way to upgrade them?

The interceptor concept I didn't get at so far. I had that once during the tutorial I guess, but when the situation came on again I had no interceptors and found no way to build them.

THanks for the answes, btw, it definitly helps.

 

[Ohnonono]

This game is amazing. So worth the 10$ off Steam and runs fantastic. I researched the gun to capture with now how do I actually use it? I have it equipped and get close with my people and don't ever see the option come up.

 

[Thrakier]

It's a close combat weapon, you need to get close.

See, I'm good at this game.

 

[Broseybrose]

Ive been wanting this since it released. Finally got it on Steam sale and am literally taken aback by how good this game is so far. The production values, graphics, style, and fun strategic turn based combat all really impressed me.

The tutorial sweeps you right into the game leading you through multiple introductory missions, introducing you to the wide array of base/research mechanics, before you even have a chance to save your game.

Ive only just started but it feels like a great game! I thought Hotline Miami was crack in game form. Hotline Miami is gonna be pressed for playtime now that I have X:COM.

 

[Thrakier]

So, I already lost two countries. I'm right before the attack of the alien base. I'm also loosin 1-3 soldiers per mission if they are "very difficult". I couldn't do without my snipers. Am I playing it wrong? Do I still have a chance finishing it?

 

[Oppo]

Started playing this yesterday. This game is pure crack. Been reading a lot and I think I have a good grasp of most stuff now. Only thing left is interceptors. How important are these and how many do I need per country? What's the best or most efficent way to upgrade them?

I only have one interceptor per world area (like North America, Europe etc) that has satellite coverage. No point in any interceptors at all in a given area until you have coverage. Order one 4-5 days before your satellite is about to go up. Research and build the first improved gun you can for them as soon as possible. Remember that it even takes a day to change weapons (can't fly if a UFO shows up in that time!) That will be good for awhile. Don't buy two jets for an area, you will get a better... jet later on

Also a good trick is to not make any of the 3 "boost" type things (aim, dodge, track) until an actual UFO shows up. It's one of the few things in the game that is instant build so wait until there's an actual UFO warning, back out of the command center, build one of each type at most, then go get 'em. Often you won't need them at all unless the UFO starts to get really big, as long as the interceptor's main gun isn't the base avalanche missles.

This game is amazing. So worth the 10$ off Steam and runs fantastic. I researched the gun to capture with now how do I actually use it? I have it equipped and get close with my people and don't ever see the option come up.

There is an option, look for a sort of zappy-alien-head-icon in your action bar for whomever has the arc thrower equipped. Also make sure you actually build an arc thrower and equip it You'll see a sort of blue ring with a lightning bolt around dudes that are susceptible. ALWAYS give them a shot or two with pistols to whittle them down before you go for it. Nothing worse then running right up to a dude and having the thing fail, then your turn ends and your head gets blown off.

So, I already lost two countries. I'm right before the attack of the alien base. I'm also loosin 1-3 soldiers per mission if they are "very difficult". I couldn't do without my snipers. Am I playing it wrong? Do I still have a chance finishing it?

Yes you do. Shit goes wrong in XCOM. That doesn't sound too out of the norm. Don't do the alien base assault until you have the carapace armour and at least beam weapons.

 

[Thrakier]

So I should go for beam weapons? I opted out so far, hate that pew pew shit. But ok...

 

[DY_nasty]

So I should go for beam weapons? I opted out so far, hate that pew pew shit. But ok...

You'll love the pew pew shit when its laying down enemies two times faster than bullets

 

[Thrakier]

Game is really fucking me left and right now. Those one hit kill zombies? Yeah fuck them. I feel like wasting my lifetime. Playing 30 minutes, holding up well just to get devastated in five minutes then. It's shit.

 

[LD2k]

I am looking for someone that can kick this game's ass at Iron Man mode.

If you guys know of someone or have suggestions, I'm all ears.

We're potentially looking to do something with this individual at PAX Prime.

Hit me up, either here or on my twitter (@LD2k)

 

[Rentahamster]

I am looking for someone that can kick this game's ass at Iron Man mode.

If you guys know of someone or have suggestions, I'm all ears.

We're potentially looking to do something with this individual at PAX Prime.

Hit me up, either here or on my twitter (@LD2k)

There are a lot of people who post up IronMan let's play videos on youtube and reddit. The only one who comes to mind is is both good and entertaining is BeagleRush. He's in Australia, though, IIRC.

 

[Thrakier]

I lost two other countries. Is there a way to get them back? I guess 6 hours down the drain...

 

[Snacks the sober sea lion]

Countries don't come back, and you shouldn't consider it wasting time because then you'll come up with a better strategy for the next campaign. It's not like Fire Emblem or other strategy/ tactical games where you just keep playing through each mission until you eventually finish the game. You have to look at it like a Civilization or Total War campaign. Sometimes you get screwed over, it's basically never the same twice, you can lose after spending 10 hours on it, and hopefully you learn what to avoid for the next one.

 

[ShaneB]

Wish I had bought the DLC during the summer sale Bah.

 

[LD2k]

There are a lot of people who post up IronMan let's play videos on youtube and reddit. The only one who comes to mind is is both good and entertaining is BeagleRush. He's in Australia, though, IIRC.

Thanks for this.

I'll reach out.

 

[Snacks the sober sea lion]

BeagleRush basically hasn't made it past phase 1 in any of his posted playthroughs, though.

 

[Thrakier]

Got to say that this game really is pure unbalanced bullshit. It's so frustrating. I go on a mission that says "moderate", I fight my way through aliens 30 minutes long with carefull tactics and a bit of luck, I think I'm about to win it and then about 8 guys with plasma weapons show up, throw a grenade and wipe the rest of my team out in just one round.

How is this good game balance? How is that fair?

 

[McNum]

Why did you have all your troops clumped together in grenade range?

And yes, it's preventable. Rule of thumb: Never reveal new territory with the second move of any unit, and especially not the final on on your turn. And if you do see 8 aliens at the same time, and don't have a rocket or similar available to really hurt them all at the same time, fall back, make sure the unit that can see them can't anymore. That means they can't see you either. So they have to search for you. Overwatch is handy here.

And stay spread out in high cover if you can. Sniper with Squad Sight on a good position in the back, then a good 3-5 tiles between your other units doing single moves when moving forward. You can switch unit after using just one Action Point, so do that instead of spending both at the same time.

As for fairness. You'll be outnumbered and outgunned for most of the game. You'll meet aliens that break certain rules of the game, like one that can act more than once per turn, but it's all consistent. And eventually, you'll be the one outgunning the aliens. Or lose horribly. That's XCOM. It's fair, but it's not exactly nice about it.

 

[Thrakier]

But it seems like the micromanagement part is way way way more important than the actual battle. It's like the early C&C games. Either you got the raw power to outnumber/defeat the enemies or you don't. The rest is luck. And there are so many dumb things happening in battles. Like my guys missing shots which could never miss and on the other hand sometimes they hit trhough 2-3 covers miles away. It's just...weird. I know there needs to be some randomness involved, but here it doesn't seem natural.

 

[Broseybrose]

The problem i seem to be having is that the game keeps throwing mission after mission at me, advancing the story. Even though, on this my second attempt, ive made it a point NOT to research priorities until last.

Im not interrogating the aliens i captured (my current objective), because i want a chance to research and tech up before the game advances the plot. But it does seem to advance no matter what I DONT DO. They just threw the downed alien ship mission at me and i havent even been able to research any new weapons or armor yet.

Basically my problem is i cannot figure out how to slow the plot down, so i can tech up and stay ahead of the game.

 

[Mazre]

The problem i seem to be having is that the game keeps throwing mission after mission at me, advancing the story. Even though, on this my second attempt, ive made it a point NOT to research priorities until last.

Im not interrogating the aliens i captured (my current objective), because i want a chance to research and tech up before the game advances the plot. But it does seem to advance no matter what I DONT DO. They just threw the downed alien ship mission at me and i havent even been able to research any new weapons or armor yet.

Basically my problem is i cannot figure out how to slow the plot down, so i can tech up and stay ahead of the game.

That's just the way it is, there's really only a very small number of missions tied to your research, any invasion/crash/terror/council missions are tied to the passage of time. Alien strength is ultimately determined by duration of the campaign, not your progress towards defeating them.

 

[DY_nasty]

But it seems like the micromanagement part is way way way more important than the actual battle. It's like the early C&C games. Either you got the raw power to outnumber/defeat the enemies or you don't. The rest is luck. And there are so many dumb things happening in battles. Like my guys missing shots which could never miss and on the other hand sometimes they hit trhough 2-3 covers miles away. It's just...weird. I know there needs to be some randomness involved, but here it doesn't seem natural.

Don't rest on what should happen on this game. Anything below 80% is a risky shot when there's only one guy that has a chance of killing that alien during that turn. If you're in half-cover cover - you're not in cover at all. If you're in a shootout, you're doing it wrong.

XCOM becomes 'easy' once you realize you're not planning for long and drawn out firefights but extremely controlled, quick, and contained encounters where you always have two soldiers with a chance to kill and one soldier with a guaranteed kill versus every enemy you engage. If you're ever in a 3 on 3 fight, you're wrong. If you find yourself chasing enemies through unexplored territory, you're wrong. If you believe that overwatch is the answer to every end of a turn, you're wrong.

Many people don't think they have to adapt their approach to XCOM because the game "should" do certain things. Its not going to change because the game was meant to be unforgiving - just like its predecessor. Don't allow yourself to be in a position where you can be crit hit from the side by Thin Man fire. Don't try and get fancy on sectoids when they're boosting another alien by going for the 2 for 1. If you find yourself getting bent over, take a step back and accept the fact that your approach is not sufficient.

Its entirely possible to beat the game on Classic with nothing but Laser Weapons.

 

[Broseybrose]

That's just the way it is, there's really only a very small number of missions tied to your research, any invasion/crash/terror/council missions are tied to the passage of time. Alien strength is ultimately determined by duration of the campaign, not your progress towards defeating them.

I see. Well, in theory I love the challenge and replayability this design approach offers. Im only on my second playthrough and my third will be even more careful.

Its entirely possible to beat the game on Classic with nothing but Laser Weapons.

This is also good to know.

 

[Thrakier]

I kinda get it - when the game is once "ahead" of you, you are fucked. I didn't research laser or plasma because I thought I can just stick with better normal guns, you can enhance them. But obviously I can't and now every mission I do get is way, way, way too hard to manage. I just don't hit enoough and I don't do enough damage.

 

[Snacks the sober sea lion]

The appearance of enemies is usually determined by what month it is, not by the plot. Mutons will show up whether you capture an Outsider or not.

 

[Psychoward]

Well, after owning the game since launch day, I finally beat it. Refused to do non-Ironman. I think it took about 5 failures to do it, only normal so apparently it doesn't give an achievement which sucks, but hey I did it. I haven't been that satisfied in a long time when that end cinematic came on.

Spoiler

I had one squadmate left, a heavy. He had a 25% chance to kill the uber Ethereal. I shot at it twice thanks to his perks, and got a hit both times. If I didn't land those I would have failed the entire thing. Whew. That was intense.

 

[Thrakier]

Is it a legitimate strategy to abort a mission? Do you get stuff? In all missions I'm on now I can only finish them about 50% before getting destroyed. But I can't progress because I don't have enough stuff to build plasma cannons. And the game gets harder and harder by every month.

 

[Thrakier]

Just spent an hour to defeat one fucking robot. Load/Reload my ass. And there are STILL aliens...what the mother fuck. That's not "normal", that's "extreme" and the tutorial is shit.

 

[McNum]

One robot? Are we talking mini-UFO that turns into a bug or huge two-legged death machine?

It sort of sounds like you've fallen behind on the strategic level, honestly. If you're struggling that much against some enemies, you're most likely behind on tech. When the Cyberdisks show up, it's nice to have lasers. If it's the two-legged one and you're still using earth-tech guns, then there's trouble. Big trouble.

General rule for robotic enemies is to have a Heavy with HEAT ammo and shoot a rocket at it. 12 damage is nice. Or just shot it with his machinegun, if he has a good shot. When you have the lategame weapons, you can tear up a Cyberdisk pretty easily, but you'll still have to watch out for the two-legged Sectopods.

 

[Thrakier]

One robot? Are we talking mini-UFO that turns into a bug or huge two-legged death machine?

It sort of sounds like you've fallen behind on the strategic level, honestly. If you're struggling that much against some enemies, you're most likely behind on tech. When the Cyberdisks show up, it's nice to have lasers. If it's the two-legged one and you're still using earth-tech guns, then there's trouble. Big trouble.

General rule for robotic enemies is to have a Heavy with HEAT ammo and shoot a rocket at it. 12 damage is nice. Or just shot it with his machinegun, if he has a good shot. When you have the lategame weapons, you can tear up a Cyberdisk pretty easily, but you'll still have to watch out for the two-legged Sectopods.

Not the disks, those are relatively easy. The two legged death machine which lets explosions rain. I have two lite plasma riflse, rest is earth guns. Never build a laser gun as well. I'm kinda out of options right now...that's what I meant, micromanagement is far more important and if you fall behind you are fucked or you have to use tedious cheating save/load strategies...

 

[Psychoward]

Not the disks, those are relatively easy. The two legged death machine which lets explosions rain. I have two lite plasma riflse, rest is earth guns. Never build a laser gun as well. I'm kinda out of options right now...that's what I meant, micromanagement is far more important and if you fall behind you are fucked or you have to use tedious cheating save/load strategies...

Kind of your fault for not building any laser weapons.... The Sectopods don't show up for a while, you had plenty of time. And failure is okay, it's a strategy game, sometimes you have to fail to learn new things.

 

[Thrakier]

Kind of your fault for not building any laser weapons.... The Sectopods don't show up for a while, you had plenty of time. And failure is okay, it's a strategy game, sometimes you have to fail to learn new things.

So I kinda recovered through cheating through that mission with that delivery UFO which is giving me tons of items. Plasma or Laser now?

 

[McNum]

So I kinda recovered through cheating through that mission with that delivery UFO which is giving me tons of items. Plasma or Laser now?

If you have the Light Plasma researched, you might as well go for the Plasma Rifle and skip Lasers entirely. If you catch a live Muton it'll cut the research time in half for anything Plasma.

As for the Sectopods, they have a tell that shows where their artillery strikes will be. But it's blink and you'll miss it. On the aliens' turn, if the camera suddenly moves to your unit(s), but nothing happens... RUN! It means a Sectopod just set a target there and death will rain after your turn. It's a two turn attack. I know I said "DON'T SPRINT!" earlier, but there are exceptions to that rule. This is one. Just run in the direction you came from and not into new areas. Might run into another Sectopod hat way. Speaking from experience there.

 

[TheSeks]

Grenadier or Danger Zone (DUN-DUN-DUNNNN): I'm thinking Grenadier since I didn't put Rapid Reaction on this one.

Flush or Rapid Fire: I'm thinking Flush since it draws enemies out which could be useful to set up for sniper shots, but I dunno.

 

[McNum]

Grenadier or Danger Zone (DUN-DUN-DUNNNN): I'm thinking Grenadier since I didn't put Rapid Reaction on this one.

Flush or Rapid Fire: I'm thinking Flush since it draws enemies out which could be useful to set up for sniper shots, but I dunno.

Rapid Fire is awesome. Picture this: Big tough alien. Run and Gun and a max tier shotgun. *BOOM* *BOOM* No more big scary alien. Flush would be better if the aliens didn't get to run back into cover.

Danger Zone lets you suppress multiple aliens with one Heavy if they're close together. Also the blast radius of your rockets get bigger. I'd pick Danger Zone of those two.

 

[TheSeks]

I haven't honestly used Suppression outside of this one mission which seemed to eat my ammo in one turn thereby having me reload the full next turn. :/

And I haven't been running shotguns. It's either LMG's, Snipers, and Assault Rifles to make sure I'm out of poison/zombie distance and keeping the group in a formation without having them all be tagged so the medic can grab one if they go down. Shotgun seems too dangerous to my "everyone comes back alive" mantra. D:

 

[Psychoward]

Grenadier or Danger Zone (DUN-DUN-DUNNNN): I'm thinking Grenadier since I didn't put Rapid Reaction on this one.

Flush or Rapid Fire: I'm thinking Flush since it draws enemies out which could be useful to set up for sniper shots, but I dunno.

Rapid Fire is much, much better than Flush.

 

[The Stig]

yeha flush sounds good on paper but it just flashes the enemy into more cover

 

[TheSeks]

Dense Smoke or Combat Drugs: I'm feeling more toward Combat Drugs for the Will Bonus but I haven't used Smoke Grenades that much... so both are kinda pointless...

Close Combat Specialist or Bring 'Em On: I'm thinking CCS.

Also is there any way to speed up builds? I need sats up within one day of the report but it's one day AFTER the report and I'm close to losing Canada and Argentina it seems. D:

 

[Snacks the sober sea lion]

Close Combat Specialist destroys Berserkers, which can mess up your entire mission if they show up unexpectedly.

I only use Smoke when I'm actually in danger of losing anybody, but I have no idea how reliable it is, or how useful Combat Drugs is.

 

[Thrakier]

Now all plasma. Game suddenly became too easy. It's really unbalanced imo.

 

[mercviper]

Dense Smoke or Combat Drugs: I'm feeling more toward Combat Drugs for the Will Bonus but I haven't used Smoke Grenades that much... so both are kinda pointless...

Close Combat Specialist or Bring 'Em On: I'm thinking CCS.

Also is there any way to speed up builds? I need sats up within one day of the report but it's one day AFTER the report and I'm close to losing Canada and Argentina it seems. D:

Dense smoke is useful if you get caught out with no cover. Combat drugs on the other hand, loses the smoke's cover bonus but you can take advantage of the combat bonuses for 2 turns instead of 1 (both the turn you throw it and the following turn since the smoke disappears on the enemy's second turn).

And I'd choose CCS over Bring 'Em On unless you're looking to see how much damage you can do in 1 critical.

Re: Satellites
They always build in 20 days no matter what so time it appropriately. I think you can speed up other build times with more engineers but satellites are fixed.

 

[TheSeks]

I guess I should go ahead with the story mission before the X-com report then? Since I have Laser Weapons for everyone and am starting to research Plasma. Would that lower the level 5 panics for the countries to buy me some time to get Sats or am I fucked anyway and should just continue to research and pump my army up while getting sats for the rest of the countries in the council so I don't lose three more and game over...?

 

[McNum]

I guess I should go ahead with the story mission before the X-com report then? Since I have Laser Weapons for everyone and am starting to research Plasma. Would that lower the level 5 panics for the countries to buy me some time to get Sats or am I fucked anyway and should just continue to research and pump my army up while getting sats for the rest of the countries in the council so I don't lose three more and game over...?

The story mission, I'm assuming you're talking

Spoiler

the alien base

, will decrease panic by 2 in ALL remaining countries when you complete it. So, yes, do it right before the council report to knock all 5s down to 3.