XCOM: Enemy Unknown

[A Tasty Burgerr]

I'm playing on normal. Everything I've read on it so far suggested starting on normal so I'm treating this first game as a testing/experiment run. I thought it would be a bit more challenging to this point but I definitely feel like I've made it past the main learning curve and will use the rest of the playthrough to learn AI behavior and smarter formations and stuff.

I was planning to play on Ironman from the get-go to avoid my obsessive-compulsive saving disorder but didn't see the option for it, is it just on Classic difficulty?

[SethMode]

I'm playing on normal. Everything I've read on it so far suggested starting on normal so I'm treating this first game as a testing/experiment run. I thought it would be a bit more challenging to this point but I definitely feel like I've made it past the main learning curve and will use the rest of the playthrough to learn AI behavior and smarter formations and stuff.

I was planning to play on Ironman from the get-go to avoid my obsessive-compulsive saving disorder but didn't see the option for it, is it just on Classic difficulty?

It's available for every mode, it's just kind of weirdly set up. You have to start a new SP game, hit "X" to bring up advanced options, and then scroll all the way down past Impossible, enable Ironman, then scroll back up and select the difficulty that you want.

[A Tasty Burgerr]

Huh, I just missed to advanced options completely. The management of distributing finances is absolutely crazy and probably what I'm doing worst lol. Between the 8 or so different systems that are all vital to the game I've found it really hard to balance the budget evenly, particularly with satellites and improving fighter jets.

[SethMode]

Huh, I just missed to advanced options completely. The management of distributing finances is absolutely crazy and probably what I'm doing worst lol. Between the 8 or so different systems that are all vital to the game I've found it really hard to balance the budget evenly, particularly with satellites and improving fighter jets.

The Satellites were what almost fucked me up completely. The fact that it takes 20 damn days to construct one is ludicrous. And don't get caught with your pants down on Interceptors either, which also almost happened to me. You have to take down some seriously huge fucking UFO's sometimes and just basic Ravens won't cut it.

The good thing is, once you get pretty decent satellite coverage, you'll start to really rake in the cash and it will give you a ton of breathing room on that side of things. It is definitely a very front loaded game: it's super easy to fuck yourself early on, but as your soldiers upgrade and you get more money, it becomes more about just proper battle tactics than anything, which I found to be the easier part.

Classic is just making me feel like Ironman on anything other than Normal being any fun. It's hard enough to build yourself back up as the missions get harder and soldiers potentially die WITH the option to reload. Without it I feel like early on you could just be buried super easily without pitch perfect tactics (and again, the comp gets SUPER douchie on Classic, can't imagine Impossible).

[U824942]

Love this game and will get it when I finish up the 5 or so other new games I have lying around. I think the biggest tactic challenge is not to leave one or more of your trooper s "on an island". I did that on the 1st demo playthrough and got toasted. Once I statrted moving the squad together (you can end a turn early and not use all of your movement points), cross covering team memeber became easier and when the first trooper missed the shot, the second trooper dropped the alien. I didn't get int some of the bigger battles but I suspect keeping the team together will offer some protection and added firepower when the aliens attack or when you attack them. I think I f-ed up the reasearch portion........

[SethMode]

Love this game and will get it when I finish up the 5 or so other new games I have lying around. I think the biggest tactic challenge is not to leave one or more of your trooper s "on an island". I did that on the 1st demo playthrough and got toasted. Once I statrted moving the squad together (you can end a turn early and not use all of your movement points), cross covering team memeber became easier and when the first trooper missed the shot, the second trooper dropped the alien. I didn't get int some of the bigger battles but I suspect keeping the team together will offer some protection and added firepower when the aliens attack or when you attack them. I think I f-ed up the reasearch portion........

You have to be careful with keeping them too close together though shortly into the game as well. There are a ton of aliens that throw grenades or have area of effect attacks that fuck your dudes up. And with grenades, they are always a 100% hit. They will never miss (thankfully, you never do either).

[Swarley]

XCOM's Slingshot DLC is available for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC today and Firaxis has released a trailer and screenshots to let fans know what they're getting into.

Slingshot costs $6.99 on PSN and PC, and 560 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live. The pack introduces three new maps tied to Council missions, a new playable squad member with its own voice and storyline, and additional character customization options.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/12/04/xcom-enemy-unknown-39-s-slingshot-dlc-is-available-now.aspx

[SethMode]

I want this, but reading/looking at what it is, I refuse to get burned on DLC again. And 7 bucks for a little story stuff and some troop customization options just seems a little crazy (it has been a rough year for me DLC wise).

[A Tasty Burgerr]

I beat it on normal-ironman mode today. It did end up getting pretty easy in the second half, if I end up revisiting it in a few months I will go for classic.

[Diivox]

This is the guide I used:

http://forums.2kgames.com/showthread.php?163686-A-guide-to-classic-ironman-for-the-rest-of-us

but I didn't start in North America like he suggested. I started in Asia, which gave me the powerful advantage of being able to completely ignore 3 countries while retaining the (also powerful) continent bonus and just manage panic everywhere else. Squad upgrades are absolutely crucial especially if you are playing iron man. the game is significantly easier with 6 man teams - either a full team, or 5 + 1 sacrificial lamb - and the item upgrades by themselves sometimes not even that useful but if you can afford to do them all ASAP the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I was able to finish my Classic game without losing anyone but the Asian countries I gave up.

First Satellite I like to put up in whatever country makes the most money. been a while since I played, but it was america and i think germany. Pick which continent bonus you prefer, but I like NA because you really do need extensive fighter coverage or you will lose the game, period. 50% off sooner also means you can get away with buying more fighters at lower tech (just abort the mission right before your dude gets blown up and send in the next one) and defer those techs in lieu of higher priority stuff.

Second Month, I build 3 sats, and take Africa. cash income bonus is not important first month cuz you got two nations. when you are springing up to 5 you need to pay for your late game by increasing returns now.

Third month you complete the bonus on the continent you satellited first month. by the fourth you fill in which continent you skipped and get south america if you want. in impossible start, people swear by south america, but personally i dont care about the bonus even if it only takes 2 sats to snag. I make captures a #1 priority ; the thing is the interrogations dont even take that long ; its essentially one tech to research that makes multiple other techs cheaper. it takes like 10 days. then saves you like 45. I'm already getting a huge bonus on this, i'd rather snag europe or NA first. Basically, with my start, you crap on the rest of Asia, and you have the flexibility to crap on south america if you need to. you can suck at the game and still win with a 5 nation margin of error.

Do yourself a favor and snag scientists on one reward early. everyone says they suck and you dont need to build science labs. true, i haven't built a science lab since i got good at live captures / interrogations. But you still want that minor bump in the beginning it makes a massive difference in the rough and tumble first month or two. The rest of your rewards should always be cash. don't take an engineer reward, build a workshop for an engineer and built it next to another one so you can get refund bonuses on your items. This is crucial if you lean heavily on explosives and wreck alot of item drops. The best armors make the game easy mode, but they can be very expensive to set up initially. Sitting there praying for a UFO to come along so you can finish off your high level assaults armor is super frustrating :P

obviously you should inspect your base closely and plan it out spot by spot the minute you see it. Timing is everything with digging down to lower levels, you need to be sure you have elevators and excavations done BEFORE your payday so you can start immediately on sometimes long constructions.

lastly, on Ironman: I tried and had varying levels of success, but, honestly, I am too busy these days to suffer "THAT'S XCOM!". Sometimes you just get totally screwed by your map or a key injury or a badly timed panic shot and it's not through any mistake you made as a gamer. That might be realistic, but it's fuckin buzzkill man and i'm getting too old + I have too full a steam library to put up with that shit or make 200 attempts to finish a game :P

[padman59]

Second Wave DLC releasing today that gives you options to make the game harder for the low price of free. It's included in the patch on PC (not sure how consoles are going to handle it).

Here's what you get:

• Damage Roulette: Weapons have a wider range of damage.
• New Economy: Randomized council member funding.
• Not Created Equally: Rookies will have random starting stats.
• Hidden Potential: As a soldier is promoted, stats increase randomly.
• Red Fog: Combat wounds will degrade the soldier's mission stats.
• Absolutely Critical: A flanking shot guarantees a critical hit.
• The Greater Good: Psionics can only be learned from interrogating a psionic alien.
• Marathon: The game takes considerably longer to complete.
• Results Driven: A country offers less funding as its panic level increases.
• High Stakes: Random rewards for stopping alien abductions.
• Diminishing Returns: Increased cost of satellite construction.
• More Than Human: The psionic gift is extremely rare.

Chris Kluwe is added as an unlockable hero on the PC version.

[jms493]

AND this game is now available on XBOX live for the low, low price of.........$59.99

[SethMode]

AND this game is now available on XBOX live for the low, low price of.........$59.99

Have you ever even looked at the Games on Demand games? They are rarely discounted, and especially not this recently after release. Hell, Skyrim is still 59.99.

[jms493]

Have you ever even looked at the Games on Demand games? They are rarely discounted, and especially not this recently after release. Hell, Skyrim is still 59.99.

i know, i know....i was joking.

I skin through there alot hoping to see a game I want for 19.99....never happens. IMO they would sell alot more if the games were just around $10 cheaper. Sometimes I am bored and just want to try out a game. If gamer like Space Marine was $20 bucks I might just impulse buy it. Or Asuras Wrath was $20....buy it just to see what it is all about....but $40??? $40 to me is not a "fuck it" kind of purchase.

[SethMode]

i know, i know....i was joking.

I skin through there alot hoping to see a game I want for 19.99....never happens. IMO they would sell alot more if the games were just around $10 cheaper. Sometimes I am bored and just want to try out a game. If gamer like Space Marine was $20 bucks I might just impulse buy it. Or Asuras Wrath was $20....buy it just to see what it is all about....but $40??? $40 to me is not a "fuck it" kind of purchase.

I got Kameo for like 2.50. That was the only digital game I ever bought sober. There are games here and there for 19.99, but definitely few and far between (and most of the time old as shit/I've already played or own them). Sometimes when they do $10 off deals I can talk myself into them out of laziness/impulse, as that's often about 10 bucks more than you could get for it in a store.