D-Lyrium Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 For those looking for similar games, have you tried Frozen Synapse? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Casey Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 <p>Got paid yesterday, and XCOM has been ordered. Roll on the 12th... although unless Amazon are shipping early, it'll be the weekend before I have it.</p><p> </p><p> Hmm... I think my wife owes me an afternoon off on Saturday...</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crownsy Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 <p>I didn't get it last night, but I know it's in the damn house ha.</p><p> </p><p> Hoping i get it tommorow for my actual birthday, since I have nothing to do friday morning so I can play till 3-4 in the morning once I get home from class and she goes to bed. If she waits till sunday to give it to me I won't even be able to really play it till the next weekend :/</p><p> </p><p> Anyway, lets hear some reports from those playing it! and also, I propose this thread turns into a awesome mission story/ memorial for fallen soilders who have an awesome digital service record.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comradebot Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 <p>Want some reports?</p><p> </p><p> Here you go: Classic difficulty is as brutal as a testicular curb-stomp. If you man up to Ironman, all the rougher. You can and you will lose people, and quite often crap will just not work out as you intended.</p><p> </p><p> Its brilliant fun, though. Unforgiving and the slightest mistake can mean the difference between a clean run and "Oh god oh god maybe I can still get someone back to the Skyranger." Same can be said for crap luck. 88% to hit that alien that's flanking another member of your team that's suppressed and can't run? Guess what: there's a 12% chance at least that other agent is going to die horribly.</p><p> </p><p> Even then you've got times where the aliens pull off a miracle shot. I had an Assault soldier hunkered down behind full cover, on the high ground, and from across the map some jerk Outsider still managed to sneak a shot in and kill her. </p><p> </p><p> I've lost count of how many restarts I've had, but I'm finally getting the ground game down. Still losing council members left and right, and I'm pretty sure I've already lost due to that. But the ground game I've got: stay slow, try and stay in high cover when possible, and keep your squad mostly together but don't huddle em' up too much. Overwatch is awesome, but hunkering down can be good if they have a shotgun or if you're already in a fire fight and your chances of actually hitting the alien are slim. And, of course, if your cover is kinda crappy it can be wise to have em' lay as low as possible.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comradebot Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 <p>Also, make sure you've always got plenty of room to fallback to. With my current playthrough, I've lost five agents in two and a half months: one of those was just some random rookie, but the other four all died in a single mission. Like an idiot I tried to stand up to the aliens with really only a single van for cover. It was working, but as soon as the van got toasted I was boned. My guys had nowhere to retreat to, and like the tards they were couldn't hit an alien to save their lives (literally).</p><p> </p><p> But that was rather early, and <em>no one</em> has died since. Except my funding, of course.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harmor Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 Geez man that sounds so friggin' awesome - can't wait for the 12th! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonmack Posted October 10, 2012 Author Share Posted October 10, 2012 I started with normal difficulty to get my feet wet. In about the fourth month so far and things going fairly smoothly. Haven't failed a mission yet, and worst one was lost 3 and my shiv during an abduction mission where the enemy had multiple cyberdiscs, drones, mutons and even a beserker, but managed to survive that one. Sniper is awesome, especially with squad sight, and in the zone. I have literally had my sniper take out 4 enemies in a turn because they were in teh open and he could fire again after killing the previous one. Even on Normal, things get tense with the council nations early on. No way to avoid it with having the option to only choose one out of three sites for an abduction mission. Even if you clean house in the mission, the other two areas panic will rise because they didnt get helped, so you are constantly balancing things and having to make a hard decision. Also you will not have money to do everything. You don't get to get all the upgrades, build all the equipment, expand the base, etc at the same time, you will need to make hard choices, and have to wait. Only real negatives are the UI is not as good as a PC one should be, and the camera has issues sometimes, especially near map edges. Also, you don't get to zoom into the base areas like you saw in the vids, so you don't really get to watch your ant farm as closely as you'd like Also I'd like the soldiers to have more of a history kept, like promoted to this rank on this mission, killed this many aliens on this mission etc. Its all rather bare bones. But overall, its definitely fun, worth the money and going to be challenging, especially at classic and above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harmor Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 That's awesome (drool!). I think in one of the preview videos I actually DID see them zoom in on the ant farm - Firaxis most likely changed something from the preview- to the retail version that broke the zoom. It has already been reported on the bug forum though so my guess is this'll be fixed with a patch. Question here since I pre-ordered - how does activating the elite soldier pack work? Do you get an email with a code or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonmack Posted October 10, 2012 Author Share Posted October 10, 2012 As far as I know its already in the game. I didn't get any extra keys from or any other dlc's from there. From what I can tell, its basically just a few more customization options. My game already has the old flattop cut, and I have two different armor designs to choose from. So I figure that its already enabled with all the initial release games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crownsy Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 That's awesome (drool!). I think in one of the preview videos I actually DID see them zoom in on the ant farm - Firaxis most likely changed something from the preview- to the retail version that broke the zoom. It has already been reported on the bug forum though so my guess is this'll be fixed with a patch. Question here since I pre-ordered - how does activating the elite soldier pack work? Do you get an email with a code or something? Keep in mind the preview (oxm, ect) were console versions. Firaxis has come out and said that the UI's are diffrent for both, along with other cosmetics. So it may be that on the console versions, you can zoom. This is actually one of the only negitives I've seen in the review. PC gamer said that the UI feels like it's a console UI shoved onto a PC, and the keyboard commands don't seem natural unless played with a controller. By contrast, alot of the console reviews are praising it for one of the best tactical/ strategy UI's they've seen. My cynaical opnion is the whole "we designed them for each individualy!" is crap and the PC ui is a stripped down version of the console UI, which is why it comes off as cluncky (tries to shove to much onto the anticipated controllers 8 buttons) Anyway, I'd let you know on the zooming and DLC but I can't get my hands on it yet....grrrr...My girl is awesome but i know she's gonna save that shit for Sunday so she can give it to me at the surpise party. MUST HAVE NOW comrade - sounds awesome man, can't wait to get smoked my first few play throughs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comradebot Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 Keep in mind the preview (oxm, ect) were console versions. Firaxis has come out and said that the UI's are diffrent for both, along with other cosmetics. So it may be that on the console versions, you can zoom. This is actually one of the only negitives I've seen in the review. PC gamer said that the UI feels like it's a console UI shoved onto a PC, and the keyboard commands don't seem natural unless played with a controller. By contrast, alot of the console reviews are praising it for one of the best tactical/ strategy UI's they've seen. My cynaical opnion is the whole "we designed them for each individualy!" is crap and the PC ui is a stripped down version of the console UI, which is why it comes off as cluncky (tries to shove to much onto the anticipated controllers 8 buttons) Anyway, I'd let you know on the zooming and DLC but I can't get my hands on it yet....grrrr...My girl is awesome but i know she's gonna save that shit for Sunday so she can give it to me at the surpise party. MUST HAVE NOW comrade - sounds awesome man, can't wait to get smoked my first few play throughs Then play on Classic. No offense to Dragonmack, but Normal and Classic are like entirely different games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonmack Posted October 10, 2012 Author Share Posted October 10, 2012 Then play on Classic. No offense to Dragonmack, but Normal and Classic are like entirely different games. No offense taken. I know the game doesn't really begin till you do Classic or above. I just wanted my re-introduction to involve a little less hair pulling in frustration ( seeing as I am bald and that really isn't good for me ) So I started with Normal just to get a really good feel for what the game has to offer. My next playthrough is when I get serious with Classic Ironman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crownsy Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 I havent made that call yet. I'm definatly going ironman, just not sure if i wanna play a warm up game on normal or jump right into classic. I'm debating trying to pull off the "give me the game tommorow as my actual day of present" manuvoer, but the problem is she knows thats what i want most. gotta tow that line between being cute and ticking her off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VBigB Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 Just for information, you can zoom in on the ant farm on the PC version (at least if your using a Xbox 360 controller on the PC which I am as it's easier on my wrists). For the controller it's the left trigger. For mouse and keyboard I'm not sure what the control is. When you are using the controller there is a little help message in the bottom left corner of the screen showing correct button to zoom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comradebot Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 Well... I just got the game over screen. Terror Mission in China... mostly rookies due to recent casualties, but I'm rockin' awesome armor and laser guns. Last terror mission was a walk in the park. We advance down the bridge, I hear civilians dying, the usual. Then, three Chryssalids jump off a fallen overpass. No problem, we line em' up, start shooting... And then zombies start pouring off the broken overpass... And then Chryssalids start pouring off... And then more and more of both. We ran out of ammo before we could drop the closest zombies, and they turned into Chryssalids. Guys started missing easy shots, and the moment the Chryssalids hit the team folks started to panic. I tried to run back to the skyranger, but most of my people were happier screaming "I DON'T WANNA DIE!!!" before, you know, dying. Some Greek Rookie managed to take cover behind a truck within sprinting distance of the evac zone. He killed one last Chyrssalid with his laser gun with a reaction shot that tried to wheel around the truck's corner at him and then sprinted to safety. Of the six men, the Greek with the Guile haircut was the only survivor. But apparently it didn't matter, losing the mission in China was apparently enough to push me over the brink to defeat. At least we don't have that sad looking four-armed guy like in the original... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harmor Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 Dang - the way you write this it's a diary waiting to happen ^^ ... with more of a happy ending though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crownsy Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 part of me does want to do a dairy, but i'll probabley settle for posts on odd/heroic/tragic missions in the thread as a general matter. I tried to get the game tonight with the "come on hun, it's perfect! I can play it till 4 in the morning tonight and you know, it IS my actual birthday!" approach but made a tactical retreat when the "but....its the gift you want most....don't you want to wait so i can give it to you at the dinner im throwing you in front of everyone you insensitive prick? (italics added, that was just strongly implied by tone in the fashion of all girlfriends/wives/women Anyway, I watched the base mission, which was pretty cool. I love how the chysallids (sp) look/work now. They look like Genestealer level of terror. Cannot wait! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harmor Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 part of me does want to do a dairy, but i'll probabley settle for posts on odd/heroic/tragic missions in the thread as a general matter. I tried to get the game tonight with the "come on hun, it's perfect! I can play it till 4 in the morning tonight and you know, it IS my actual birthday!" approach but made a tactical retreat when the "but....its the gift you want most....don't you want to wait so i can give it to you at the dinner im throwing you in front of everyone you insensitive prick? (italics added, that was just strongly implied by tone in the fashion of all girlfriends/wives/women Anyway, I watched the base mission, which was pretty cool. I love how the chysallids (sp) look/work now. They look like Genestealer level of terror. Cannot wait! LOL ... I feel ya there ^^ - and damn, Tyranids/Genestealers were the first thing I thought of when I saw Chrysallids the first time in a vid. 5 hours to go for me as of this post - and I'll be at work then, LOL! At least my wife's letting the patch load til it's finished while I'm gone (cause the Steam servers are currently OMGWTFPWNED and slow) so I'll be good to play tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonmack Posted October 11, 2012 Author Share Posted October 11, 2012 Just lost my first two countries in normal after about 4 months. Was given a choice of three abduction sites, all at 3 panic or higher. Took the highest one, but even with an excellent result, nothing I could do to get the panic levels lowered on the other two as I didnt have any satellites to launch up there. Still have 14 to go though, and I think I am getting near the end game of it. Have researched almost all the good stuff, even though I can't afford to build most of it. Thats one thing about this game, time wise it doesn't last as long as the original x-com did. I remember going up to a year or more sometimes before getting to the end mission, here it looks like 4-5 months in game you are near the end, one way or another. However, I have set the normal game aside for now, as it has been fairly easy for me, no failed missions,( except one escort mission where i didnt lose anyone, but the vip got toasted by a thin man.) and almost all stuff researched that I know of. I just started a classic ironman game, and thinking about doing it as a diary, if I can find the time to write it up. I have been taking basic notes of my missions so far, like who I took, what ranks, operation name, what I ran into, results, and any basic or interesting tactics. Real problem is stopping playing long enough to make the notes so when its fresh so I have some details to work from when writing up missions later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crownsy Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 Just lost my first two countries in normal after about 4 months. Was given a choice of three abduction sites, all at 3 panic or higher. Took the highest one, but even with an excellent result, nothing I could do to get the panic levels lowered on the other two as I didnt have any satellites to launch up there. Still have 14 to go though, and I think I am getting near the end game of it. Have researched almost all the good stuff, even though I can't afford to build most of it. Thats one thing about this game, time wise it doesn't last as long as the original x-com did. I remember going up to a year or more sometimes before getting to the end mission, here it looks like 4-5 months in game you are near the end, one way or another. However, I have set the normal game aside for now, as it has been fairly easy for me, no failed missions,( except one escort mission where i didnt lose anyone, but the vip got toasted by a thin man.) and almost all stuff researched that I know of. I just started a classic ironman game, and thinking about doing it as a diary, if I can find the time to write it up. I have been taking basic notes of my missions so far, like who I took, what ranks, operation name, what I ran into, results, and any basic or interesting tactics. Real problem is stopping playing long enough to make the notes so when its fresh so I have some details to work from when writing up missions later. yea, the more i hear, the more i think im gonna jump right into Ironman classic and just deal with the ass whoopings I'll receive the first few play through. Everyone seems to agree that if your a tactic/strategy player like we all seem to be, normal isn't much of a challenge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Casey Posted October 11, 2012 Share Posted October 11, 2012 So, for seasoned XCOMers, would Classic equate to the old Superhuman, or are we talking TFTD hard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonmack Posted October 11, 2012 Author Share Posted October 11, 2012 probably more superhuman. it isnt like TFTD where you hit the lobsterman n20 times to penetrate his shell. But the real challenge is impossible ironman. you will get ripped on that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Lyrium Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 GUYS! GUYS! IT'S DOWNLOADING! SQUEEEE!. Normally I would try and salvage this post with something useful, but *** it, it's X-COM! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek B Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 I wasn't sure if I could afford this for release day... I still don't think I can, but I've paid for it now. Killing Ethereals will have to be enough for the risk of not eating in about a week. Shame the download took so long and the update is also taking ages, don't think I'm going to play tonight but I think I know where my day is going to go tomorrow. I just hope I don't get too many early night missions, they always scare me... especially when a rogue alien gets behind me and suddenly I fel surrounded by everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Lyrium Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 Just for information, you can zoom in on the ant farm on the PC version (at least if your using a Xbox 360 controller on the PC which I am as it's easier on my wrists). For the controller it's the left trigger. For mouse and keyboard I'm not sure what the control is. When you are using the controller there is a little help message in the bottom left corner of the screen showing correct button to zoom. Mousewheel up/down. First thing I tried. To be honest, it's pretty standard for zooming on a PC, surprised Harmor didn't figure that out. Derek, 'high' graphics settings don't seem to be all that demanding. It's not really a graphics intensive game (which isn't to say it doesn't look great. Just that my PC can handle it just fine, which is surprising). So don't start off on low right away. I've started on Classic Ironman. Which could be a mistake as I've never actually played the original X-Com games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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