Author Topic: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15  (Read 16982 times)

Raitaki

  • 雷滝
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #30 on: March 06, 2015, 07:09:19 PM »
I think in Dynamic War missions are RNG-based instead of following a semi-pattern, so there's no guarantee of X terror missions per month, and EXALT might not have a set time window where they show up. Don't remember when they showed up in my run, but it was after I successfully raided my first Medium UFO, so maybe they pop up when the game deems you've gone far enough?
[08:23 pm]  Aristocrat -- Raitaki on a scale of 1 to 10 your current mafia game play is annoying as fuck
[08:25 pm]  Aristocrat -- Raitaki, if both of us ended up as mafia
[08:25 pm]  Aristocrat -- I would be so angry
[08:25 pm]  Aristocrat -- that I will snap and give into my rage

Yugian

  • Humble Blacksmith
  • If the soul preserves, Then Limits dont Exist.
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #31 on: March 06, 2015, 09:10:14 PM »
Yikes, needed the damage that badly against a thin man? Well, Desperate times call for desperate measures.  :V

My recommendation in the future is to just bunker them down. The Acid debuff to aim isn't worth taking shots (Unless they are a REALLLLLLY good shot) and their twinked out Defense and DR from the bunker down will reliably ensure aliums dont want to pop their head off- given there's easier targets. If you have a medic handy, this is where he shines.

DONT feel bad about using a medkit on an acided unit if you have to. The medic wont get damaged by nature of partial acid immunity, and getting that latchkey unit (Say the gunner) back into the fight instead of waiting 3~5 turns for him to shake it off himself can be the difference between victory and death.

Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #32 on: March 08, 2015, 01:22:51 AM »
Have to watch and check this out when I get time, but feel free to use and abuse my name Kiro.
The replacability and interchangability of Bob is strong.

Ghaleon

  • Long twintail-o-holic
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #33 on: March 08, 2015, 01:35:03 AM »
Yokai-jesus damnit. The game just burned me... I was in the middle of that slingshot battleship mission at the end of a month and evidently, there's a bug where you don't get paid, or researchers, or engineeers at the end of the month like you're supposed to... So I just lost my month in pay, and more importantly (atm I really really need more effing researchers and engineers), workers. I'm considering looking for a cheat program to fix that issue.

Yugian

  • Humble Blacksmith
  • If the soul preserves, Then Limits dont Exist.
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #34 on: March 08, 2015, 07:39:45 PM »
Yokai-jesus damnit. The game just burned me... I was in the middle of that slingshot battleship mission at the end of a month and evidently, there's a bug where you don't get paid, or researchers, or engineeers at the end of the month like you're supposed to... So I just lost my month in pay, and more importantly (atm I really really need more effing researchers and engineers), workers. I'm considering looking for a cheat program to fix that issue.

There is a reason i reserve the right to scum and otherwise change fate when i was streaming.

such as denying a key unit moves, or else the game crashes. or 3 interceptor die manuever  :3

Ghaleon

  • Long twintail-o-holic
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #35 on: March 09, 2015, 07:43:31 AM »
oh yeah I'm save-scumming like hell (mostly just during interceptor battles, but I do it in battle sometimes too when it's a run ahead only to spot a pack of crysalids who proceed to surround my guy on my own turn and I'm left with like 2 people left to somehow kill all 4 and not kill the dude they have surrounded)), not trying to do a no-load run or anything.

But I didn't really notice that it skipped my end-month pay until a few minutes AFTER the fact, and I didn't particularly feel like rea-fighting the entire battleship stage all over again. It surprisingly wasn't that hard (the very first mission where I get zhang was a bish though, I swear, like 14 thin men would ambush me after the first frakin' turn...speaking of thin men, they are still the most painful thing to fight for me, mutons are pussycats compared to them, I think the aliens 'spent' their resources or upgrades on thin men exclusively or something)...Anyway, it surprisingly wasn't that hard but it sure took a longass time

Yugian

  • Humble Blacksmith
  • If the soul preserves, Then Limits dont Exist.
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #36 on: March 09, 2015, 08:39:40 PM »
mutons are pussycats compared to them, I think the aliens 'spent' their resources or upgrades on thin men exclusively or something)...

Actually yes. This is a thing. The Aliens will purchase better upgrades for their units as they work towards new units. Research and Resources are separate, after all. Not only that, but Thin Men are Tactical units with fucking annoying Aim. A Muton is a standard grunt with lots of fire power- When they hit, it HUUUUUUURTS. A Thin man on the other hand, will set up his shot (or not), and just hit you because fuck you. Upgrading the stupidity just makes them more stupid  :V

When i see 6~8 Mutons roll up, i sqwee a bit inside. because thats manageable.

When i see any number of Thin Men?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTJwhS0-Y7U
« Last Edit: March 09, 2015, 08:51:50 PM by Yugian »

Ghaleon

  • Long twintail-o-holic
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #37 on: March 10, 2015, 02:28:23 AM »
thin-men 1shot my guys often enough anyway, so mutons doing more damage is pretty moot. I still am using starter armor so 7hp is like the beefiest my dudes get. I normally get carapace armor asap in vanilla, but now, looking at the wiki, the next armor upgrade only adds like 1 more hp or something IIRC, so it wasn't really apriority to me. Currently I'm researching the thing that will let me analyze my outsider crystal so I can raid their base and take back the US+Mexico (mexico was insta-captured by the first week as I believe the mod randomly chooses to do no matter what, and US get nailed by 3 terror missions one after the other after the other and... yeah).

I put off researching that until now because I wanted lazors asap for the accuracy + damage boost, which is a godsend, and seeker autopsy cuz I want that nifty ship dodge passive thing.

thinking about it though, my beefy dudes STARTED with 7 hp, I guess I'm getting ripped off on the hp upon level up random thing cuz 7 is still my highest even though most of my dudes are sergeants or tech sergeants. Aim seems to be good though. Before I only had lik ea 45% chance of hitting a guy with no cover at all a screen away, now I have like a 60% (on average) to do so against enemies behind partial cover. My will also seems to be growing nicely. My dudes rarely panic now, even under psi panic attacks, before if one guy went critical half my team would start wetting their pants.

Kiro

  • Drinks: Everything
  • Sleeps: Anywhere
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #38 on: March 10, 2015, 02:52:42 AM »
Stream starting up again this week. 8 PM PST (GMT-7 due to Daylight Savings). Monday through Thursday at least.

As far as HP on soldiers go, I saw something on Reddit that considers an England start to be really good because one of the possible bonuses when you can satellite elsewhere in Europe is +1 HP on your Infantry or Gunners. That seems pretty sick. Can't find the comment right now. I never played with +1 HP items in slots, but there might be some merit to it early game as it can make all the difference.
« Last Edit: March 10, 2015, 02:57:46 AM by Kiro »

Yugian

  • Humble Blacksmith
  • If the soul preserves, Then Limits dont Exist.
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #39 on: March 10, 2015, 03:20:40 AM »
I thought Australia was the best one, Meta-wise. +5 to stats to everyone? Its random sure, but It can go into all stats.

Could just be the Public opinion changing up.

Ghaleon

  • Long twintail-o-holic
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #40 on: March 10, 2015, 04:56:19 AM »
I'm playing beta 14 so bleh.

looking at the wiki, I think you're misreading australia's bonus. It's not +5 to all stats, it's +5 points randomly spent on each of the stats.. so like.. +2 aim, +1 will, +2 dodge, and on another solider it might be +5 will, etc.

+1 hp seems like it's pretty outrageously good IMO. Though we have ways light also looks like a strong choice, plus US is like the most profitable country in the game for monthly salary, so that's a nice bonus too, particularly on harder difficulties where no sat is less profit. I mean in vanilla xcom we have ways seems pretty useless, but in my limited experinece in long war so far, man I wish I had it cuz research is so damn slow, plus you get the credits after too, egads.

Kiro

  • Drinks: Everything
  • Sleeps: Anywhere
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #41 on: March 10, 2015, 06:27:44 AM »
Argh, today's stream of missions was a blur of despair. The following shows it all:

[attach=1]

I shot down a Scout over Canada, but was stretched thin and took 4 soldiers and 2 rookies. Assault moves to a small island with half cover and we activate a pod with 2 Floaters and 2 Mutons. I'm still sporting basic ballistics and armor and the Mutons have 8 and 10 HP. I try to take up positions and my rookie Lindstrom actually gets a flank kill on the first Floater. My Officer Assault actually gets crit wounded and goes unconscious. Lindstrom also slays the second Floater with an amazing 7 crit, but is immediately killed after by a Muton while in half cover. RIP PFC Lindstrom.

The 2 Mutons run away and we stabilize the Assault. We edge forward and come across a Meld canister, of course it dissipates on the turn I actually can get to it. So... I get greedy and reload the save because I realized after that I could have actually Run and Gunned to get the Meld cannister. When I replay my turn to do this, somehow the pathing of my Assault actually activates the Outsider in the UFO. I try to play it out, but with the Outsider, the 2 Mutons returning and a pod of 3 Seekers and a Drone... it ends extremely poorly. So I say screw it and go back to my original run and take the loss of Meld. Now, knowing what I have to deal with, I try to pull back to better positions and activate the Outsider. My second rookie is killed and my Rocketeer's rockets don't kill the Seekers due to damage reductions. So I decide to abort. Amazingly, none of my remaining soldiers die even after my Rocketeer panics after being shot.

After the mission, I proceed to do Geoscape stuff and my 3rd satellite comes online and I launch it over Mexico to get the continent bonus. Then I immediately regret it because I realized I had a pending satellite request for China that would give me 2 engineers. And since I wanted to expand to Asia next, I decide to take a calculated risk and reload from the Geoscape to prep the 3rd satellite for China instead. Of course, when I reload this save, RNG changes somehow... and the "alien blatant attack" cutscene starts. My first Terror mission is here and starts right before the Satellite is done building.

I complete the Terror mission with no deaths, but my Sniper has to take Overwatch damage after a Floater pod arrives and she runs down to the ground since there is no cover whatsoever on the roof. Zhang also takes damage as I reposition, trying to protect our Sniper. The Chrysallids pose no problem and it's a steady push across the map with no more injuries. In the end, 12/18 civilians survive.

I have 5 soldiers who have died and I have about 12 wounded, 2 of the latest due to fatigue spiral. Most of my non-wounded soldiers are rookies. I feel I need to play a lot sharper and avoid hits because missions seem to be fewer in between. And now... I have another Council mission. It's Newfoundland. I am so scared; I have to pull 3 fatigued soldiers into combat for this one. The fun continues tomorrow.

Raitaki

  • 雷滝
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #42 on: March 10, 2015, 07:01:35 AM »
Giving Council countries sats for engies isn't worth imo, sats are like 200 bucks and half a month this early in the game, which aren't really worth a tiny reduction in engineering's speed, imo. I'd only do it if I somehow don't have enough engies to even be allowed to build new stuff when I unlock it, which is really rare. Sats are generally just better off launched immediately once you get your uplinks up, especially if you start on a 3-country continent.
[08:23 pm]  Aristocrat -- Raitaki on a scale of 1 to 10 your current mafia game play is annoying as fuck
[08:25 pm]  Aristocrat -- Raitaki, if both of us ended up as mafia
[08:25 pm]  Aristocrat -- I would be so angry
[08:25 pm]  Aristocrat -- that I will snap and give into my rage

Kiro

  • Drinks: Everything
  • Sleeps: Anywhere
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #43 on: March 11, 2015, 05:32:03 AM »
Site Recon/Newfoundland was a rousing success. Only one hit from a Seeker for light damage. Some tense hunkering in the corner of the landing zone as I wait for the roaming Chryssalids at the very beginning, but it was pretty textbook as far as the mission is supposed to be played. Probably the most important rocket was near the end as the last pod got a little closer than I expected.

[attach=1]

Not quite on target, but just enough for everyone else to properly clean up.

After the mission, I spend my hard earned money on another satellite as a backup considering I'm full on uplink capacity. If China's gets shot down, I'll launch the spare up in Mexico. Meanwhile, Exalt enters the campaign and saps $117 bucks from me. Fffffffffffffff. I'm so low on soldiers that I only have 2 candidates and have to send an Assault as my covert OP who happens to have Close Encounters on her. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing. Meanwhile, my lone interceptor in China successfully shoots down a Scout. My Arc Thrower needs to be repaired so no captures for this next mission. And I'm not sure I can consider it a walk in the park either considering my failed mission from yesterday. Here's hoping things work out better tomorrow.

Raitaki

  • 雷滝
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #44 on: March 11, 2015, 06:05:19 AM »
Remember, the covert agent's main job is basically cheesing the covert op by hacking comms to lock EXALT down, especially in case you get the 4-man team version and EXALT vastly outnumbers you. Keep your agent as light as possible; I usually just field mine with a flashbang/grenade (depending on class) and leave the 2nd accessory slot empty, plating is wasted on the puny base HP covert agents have to make do with. Close Encounters isn't going to really do anything considering your only weapons are pistols and nades, but Run & Gun would be immensely useful for hacking comm links after a dash.

Lastly, if you're on a covert op where you have to protect the encoder, what I usually do is find a comm link the agent can reach in one full dash (usually there's one within 16 tiles or so, most agents can manage considering the bonus mobility from not wearing armor), get there immediately with Run & Gun, then move main squad as far up as possible in 1 action (ignoring cover), then if anyone reveals any EXALT I immediately hack the comm link. The encoder zone is usually the most defensible location on the entire map that EXALT can't directly spawn on by default, and if you manage to secure it using the turn EXALT wastes fixing their weapons (the idiots that steady weapon instead of fixing weapon not included, they can't do crap), then you'd have already won 80% of the mission, since you're in a spot with abundant cover that EXALT has to head towards every time, and if any pod somehow survives a turn you can hack another comm link and finish them off next turn. The fact EXALT reinforcements doesn't overwatch the turn they arrive unlike alien reinforcements is a big plus.
[08:23 pm]  Aristocrat -- Raitaki on a scale of 1 to 10 your current mafia game play is annoying as fuck
[08:25 pm]  Aristocrat -- Raitaki, if both of us ended up as mafia
[08:25 pm]  Aristocrat -- I would be so angry
[08:25 pm]  Aristocrat -- that I will snap and give into my rage

Ghaleon

  • Long twintail-o-holic
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #45 on: March 11, 2015, 06:09:05 AM »
So I just had a terror mission on canada, and I moved one dude within my blue area, just one dude, a half move, and bam, 4 seekers, 1 cyberdisc, 3 drones, and during the enemy turn, 4 crysalids came and attacked...

That mission also had a pod of mutons, and another 2(! 2?!) pod of crysalids, and some weird rainbow pod with 1 zombie (that lived 3 turns and never transformed), 1 muton, 1 thin man, 1 sectoid, 1 seeker, and 1 floater.

Sounds like the mission from hell...

I killed virtually everything but that rainbow pod in effing 4 turns, including the turn moving from my LZ, it took me like 2 more turns just to find the rainbow pod, and like 4 turns to kill it because that zombie was actually HIDING from me in this weird truck parking lot thing. My point is... the pod count would make it a terrorist mission from hell, but somehow only lost 4 people, zomg.

Terror missions are so luck based. So much better than my last one where like 6 people died before I spotted a single enemy after 2 turns of full out sprinting.

edit: exalt missions: I find many are quite easy because as you mentioned, just run your agent around 1-turn'disarming' everyone like every 2nd turn once you find more than one or two pods. But the ones where you have to defend an encoder and then a...I forget the names. Those things that NORMALLY 'hack' the enemies don't have their tops spinning, so I just assumed you can't disarm everyone...are you saying they still work like that in those ones?
« Last Edit: March 11, 2015, 06:12:17 AM by Ghaleon »

Yugian

  • Humble Blacksmith
  • If the soul preserves, Then Limits dont Exist.
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #46 on: March 11, 2015, 07:33:37 AM »
BETA 15A IS OUT. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY  :]



TIME TO MOD THE SHIT OUT OF THE INI
NO MORE TRYING TO FUFILL ASIAN VIEWER REQUESTS AND HAVING ALL AFRICANS AND MEXICANS

@Ghaelon
They really are. It also depends on how the fighting is going. If your having to bunker down in most Tactical Maps- Your losing the map of most/all Civilians. You just cant reach them in time, and FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK floaters.

If your winning, 14/18 is wonderful.

its also really stupid, because there's literally no way to win at terror missions. its garenteed panic that you cant stop. You can litterally beat every other mission in the game and come out on top, if your good enough, EXCEPT the Terror mission.  :V

Exalt Hold the line missions- bring a Sniper, Shooters and grenadiers. Blow up cover, watch them Suicidally charge towards the objective.

Raitaki

  • 雷滝
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #47 on: March 11, 2015, 08:24:23 AM »
edit: exalt missions: I find many are quite easy because as you mentioned, just run your agent around 1-turn'disarming' everyone like every 2nd turn once you find more than one or two pods. But the ones where you have to defend an encoder and then a...I forget the names. Those things that NORMALLY 'hack' the enemies don't have their tops spinning, so I just assumed you can't disarm everyone...are you saying they still work like that in those ones?
Yeah, you can still hack comm link in encoder defense missions, buuut they should still be spinning until you hack them :Uc Maybe not every comm link can be hacked? I never noticed any like that in encoder defense.

Also Terror missions appear to cost 1 resource for the aliens (out of max of 4) according to the wiki, so the player isn't actually the only one guaranteed to lose something from them, if that gives you any solace :V They also leave me with surpluses of chrys/floater corpses unless I blew them up (one of the reasons I use explosives first instead of last), so they can technically net you emergency cash. Terror missions are actually an easier source of exp and corpses than if the exact same pods of aliens show up on any other mission, since the main terror units (floaters, chrys, zombies) have different AI on Terror missions and are less likely to attempt murdering your team while you mow them down. I had an assault solo a floater squad while the rest of my team got held up by a Cyberdisc pod, and the floaters literally ignored him for 3 turns despite at least one of them flanking him every single turn, instead they just killed civs, went into overwatch or ran away.

Edit: Oh yeah, word of warning: Once I accidentally clicked the "Scan for activity" button too many times while on the timer for a council mission, and when it timed out the entirety of Europe (probably where the mission was) immediately maxed all their panic all at once from ~10%. Noot sure if that was a bug, buut until we make sure I advise y'all to probably not skip any council missions :V

Edit2: Tried to load an earlier save and scan for activity until I got a new council mission, and managed to run out of time on that one with no problems. Probably either a bug, or some really important council mission (I don't remember any like that being in the game, though).

Edit3: Okay nvm. Apparently Bomb Disposal does that if you ignore it.
« Last Edit: March 11, 2015, 03:51:55 PM by Raitaki »
[08:23 pm]  Aristocrat -- Raitaki on a scale of 1 to 10 your current mafia game play is annoying as fuck
[08:25 pm]  Aristocrat -- Raitaki, if both of us ended up as mafia
[08:25 pm]  Aristocrat -- I would be so angry
[08:25 pm]  Aristocrat -- that I will snap and give into my rage

Ghaleon

  • Long twintail-o-holic
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #48 on: March 16, 2015, 03:53:40 PM »
So last night the game did an wverything at once assault. First I did an exalt mission, the 5th in a row where I have to hack 2 encoders then leave. Incidentally, encoders that dont spin cannot be hacked for disarm purposes.

Less than 1 day after, I had TWO terror missions, one was particularly nasty featuring 2 cyberdisc pods and my first beserker. Cyberdiscs arent that bad for combat but in terror missions they just love running away at warp 9 and you have trouble chasing em down without leaving yourself vulnerable, blech.

So after terror mission 2, before a single day passes AGAIN. A troop transport lands and the very first turn I bump into a pod with TWO mechtoids and my first sectoid commander. it yad 2 sectoids too but lol. Anyway, though that was the onky pod THAT bad the others all had at least a mechtoid except for the 6 outsider, 6 crysalid and 6 seeker pods. Killed 6 mechtoids that run.

I dunno, the enemy "epending" 2 whatever out of r for 2 terror missions did NOT seem to cost them anything.

Raitaki

  • 雷滝
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #49 on: March 16, 2015, 03:57:18 PM »
holy what
[08:23 pm]  Aristocrat -- Raitaki on a scale of 1 to 10 your current mafia game play is annoying as fuck
[08:25 pm]  Aristocrat -- Raitaki, if both of us ended up as mafia
[08:25 pm]  Aristocrat -- I would be so angry
[08:25 pm]  Aristocrat -- that I will snap and give into my rage

Yugian

  • Humble Blacksmith
  • If the soul preserves, Then Limits dont Exist.
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #50 on: March 16, 2015, 08:04:50 PM »
"Hey, you killed at the aliums!  :3

Good, your not bad at this game, thats fair and balanced! How about you wait for next month for when we decide to have Etherial Pods with Muton Elite Leaders!"

Jesus Shit dude. Goddamn; Thats... Wow.
Then again, i guess its the same as my 6 Battleship over Austrailia Boogaloo maddness.  :V

Raitaki

  • 雷滝
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #51 on: March 16, 2015, 10:34:18 PM »
Oh yeah. You're not supposed to even stop all the UFOs :V Large UFOs show up from time to time; they're just there to either get resources or research for the aliens, and it's generally expected that you leave them alone (usually if you manage to clear one out, the loot can seriously boost your tech progression, assuming you have the time to complete the research projects). In fact, half the time Large UFOs are just abductors/terror ships carrying out abduction/terror missions, and it's generally infinitely easier to just let them land and start the abduction/terror mission which you then complete rather than going for the UFO itself, except if you can't spare the panic a terror mission generates, of course.

So yeah, take it a bit easier, don't try to assault large UFOs if you're not prepared enough for it. Spawning those doesn't appear to cost the aliens anything (except for terror missions), and it doesn't seem that killing alien UFOs sets them back any more than disrupting their mission by shooting them down to half health does, so don't feel obligated to jump on every large UFO you see.
[08:23 pm]  Aristocrat -- Raitaki on a scale of 1 to 10 your current mafia game play is annoying as fuck
[08:25 pm]  Aristocrat -- Raitaki, if both of us ended up as mafia
[08:25 pm]  Aristocrat -- I would be so angry
[08:25 pm]  Aristocrat -- that I will snap and give into my rage

Yugian

  • Humble Blacksmith
  • If the soul preserves, Then Limits dont Exist.
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #52 on: March 17, 2015, 01:53:33 AM »
So yeah, take it a bit easier, don't try to assault large UFOs if you're not prepared enough for it. Spawning those doesn't appear to cost the aliens anything (except for terror missions), and it doesn't seem that killing alien UFOs sets them back any more than disrupting their mission by shooting them down to half health does, so don't feel obligated to jump on every large UFO you see.

Oh, it Definitely costs them. They lose out on that UFO and its resources/research. However- The aliens have insane capabilities to produce more if they're losing. So think of it as... slicing off a branch off a tree. It'll hurt, but it wont do the deed.  :V

Ghaleon

  • Long twintail-o-holic
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #53 on: March 17, 2015, 03:13:23 AM »
Yeah I know you're not supposed to stop all UFOs. I have yet to do a damn thing about any abductor/transport/harvester/battleships unless they land.
As for being designed to run away even from transports that land, I understand that too but they aren't THAT hard if you're a save scumming cheater like myself. I DID make it so save scumming does NOT randomize things though, so I DO have to change tactics if something fails at least. So I'm only 80% cheating instead of 100% =P

That said one thing IS random with savescum loads. Seems that every single damn time I save before a arc-thrower attempt that succeeds, and I continue playing, if I reload it again for some reason, the arc thrower will fail. ARGH. I suppose I should save after that but somehow saving on a shot per shot basis is a bit low. I prefer every 2-3 turns or so.

That said I'm going to get my first 2 gauss rifles in a day, yay. I hope they are good, and that the accuracy bonus of the lazor guns wont be missed TOO much. I think I'll pass on the sniper rifle though. 1 shot reloads sounds god-awful. Even if they have heat ammo it still doesn't seem worth it. I have heat ammo on nearly all my troops that can get it anyway. Shivs effing OWN with heat ammo too. Mine consistently nails mechs for like 16ish damage non-crit, ouch.

My first psi-training things failed though. qq. I do n't understand what those purple black-hole thigns are supposed to represent. I figured it would be psi power or something but the people I sent to the psi training thing had dem purple black holes and they failed. darn noobs.

I also want to do some gene modding but wanna save my meld for mechs more. In Vanilla Gene mods seemed better IMO but da mechs were more fun.

Kiro

  • Drinks: Everything
  • Sleeps: Anywhere
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #54 on: March 17, 2015, 05:57:53 AM »
I got lazy and didn't post about my run last Thursday so I'll start with that. I was relieved that the shot down UFO didn't have Mutons in it this time. But once again, the single 10 HP Outsider gave me hell becoming a one man wrecking crew, killing my Sniper for 6 while in full cover. I seriously thought I might just lose everyone one by one when they couldn't hit 35% shots until:

[attach=1]

It was a 20% shot with an 8% chance to crit with a base Assault Rifle. That is the shot of the campaign so far. It was a 20% shot with an 8% chance to crit.

Then I had to complete my first covert extraction, the 6 soldier one. The map was the convenience store/gas station map where the encoder (1st objective) was by the pumps and the transmitter (2nd objective) was in the store. I guess I'll let the After Action Report tell the story first.

[attach=2]

First off, Stuffman came online, and man did he do work. He took a lot of shots, got hit 3 times, but was never destroyed. That says something considering everyone else took a lot of shots too. Balog was a new Gunner who I put on the roof of the store to do Suppression work. However, he was killed up top after a nearby Rocket hit panicked him and I couldn't move him away. Dozer was a painful loss. He was already wounded, but I decided he needed to get closer to a group of 3 Exalt at the pumps to fire one of his last rockets at and he was shot dead on their turn. In that span, my Rookie also was fired upon and missed despite being flanked in one of those shots. Extremely painful overall, but a completed mission. So glad Exalt AI is pretty dumb when they approach the Transmitter, but they make up for it with such stupidly high numbers on these missions.
« Last Edit: March 17, 2015, 06:01:17 AM by Kiro »

Kiro

  • Drinks: Everything
  • Sleeps: Anywhere
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #55 on: March 17, 2015, 06:32:32 AM »
Today's run featured 2 missions. The first was an abduction in Egypt. The map was the huge complex where you start on the outside of a long rectangular compound and within are alternating cars and trucks parked with an office building and an adjoining supply room. I noticed the Meld canisters were right along the outer wall and I cautiously but quickly made my way to both canisters and got them without encountering any aliens. +42 meld in each.

Setting up amongst the cars and trucks outside, I assaulted the aliens inside which included a Muton. My Rookie Richards with the Arc Thrower got closer and hunkered by a car which prompted the Muton to grenade her. She took 2 dmg and 1 DR and didn't panic. Which was important because the car was now on fire. However, a Floater had set up overwatch to cut her off. Cue the moment of truth...

[attach=1]
+2.9 scatter, ends up as a direct hit on the floater!

Richards gets healed and makes her way back to the front again. Takes 2 Mindfray dmg but still doesn't panic. Corner a lone Sectoid, fire the Arc Thrower, and success. Mission ends with only Richards taking dmg. But she is a Trooper. Mr. Bob, Bardiche (the female Sniper), and Morikage also saw action (Morikage got our first Muton kill with a Crit, granted the Muton's cover got blown away too).

Second mission is my Covert Extraction. This time it's the 4 man hack and run at the train yard map. Everything was so flawless with my AP grenades, flashbangs, and Assault Hit and Run as well as my Agent "Loco's" Run and Gun. Arriving Exalt were avoided or quickly eliminated covering Loco. It looked so good until the last turn and I had to dash through some Overwatches.

[attach=2]

She only had 5 HP because I put a Tac Vest on her for better movement and I was counting on Lightning Reflexes to cover me. I got RNG'ed and I can't scum that in good conscience. Maybe I should have given her the Tac Armor or the +1 HP item slot (she had a flashbang but didn't use it). Her sacrifice allowed my Assault "Tombstone" to get out with only fatigue damage. Tombstone is my best Assault (she was present for my last Exalt mission on Thursday racking up the kills) and it was a sad but hopefully worthwhile sacrifice. And it's coming into play because I'm pulling her out of fatigue for my next mission which is a Council escort mission. We will see how much her presence on this mission makes a difference.

« Last Edit: March 17, 2015, 06:35:41 AM by Kiro »

Ghaleon

  • Long twintail-o-holic
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #56 on: March 17, 2015, 04:02:06 PM »
Im starting to think I should just sell all my alien weapons. Plasma guns only do a piddly 1 more damage than pulse (which is much less significant than 1 damage from ballistic to laxor or whatever), lose the crit bonus, have no other bonus of its own like lasor, gauss and pulse, AND costs a fortune to research AND manufacture. Plus the alien weapons sell pretty good.

Kinda think the mod designers didnt really think weapon balance thru very much.

Yugian

  • Humble Blacksmith
  • If the soul preserves, Then Limits dont Exist.
Re: Let's Play: X-COM Long War beta 15
« Reply #57 on: March 17, 2015, 11:54:29 PM »
Im starting to think I should just sell all my alien weapons. Plasma guns only do a piddly 1 more damage than pulse (which is much less significant than 1 damage from ballistic to laxor or whatever), lose the crit bonus, have no other bonus of its own like lasor, gauss and pulse, AND costs a fortune to research AND manufacture. Plus the alien weapons sell pretty good.

Kinda think the mod designers didnt really think weapon balance thru very much.

Yeah, they are a bit underwhelming; but your going to need them. They're ether going to - A. Nerf Pulse Weapons or B. Nerf Pulse Weapons.

Long war eventually becomes a flat up damage race- And Plasma, for as much as it stands; does the most. You'll have enough Item boosters that losing out on innate shit isnt going to hurt you that bad. BUT, dont feel bad at ALL about selling spares- you dont need 30 Plasma Rifles  :V

HOWEVER, NEVER SELL A PLASMA HEAVY WEAPON. Otherwise, you cant make Plasma Dragoons/Cannons and Sniper Rifle/Reflex.