X-COM XCOM 2 + War of the Chosen Expansion Thread

[Cyberarmy]

Did this fix the 3 RPG dudes rofltstomping the game?

Its even worse now with new upgrades and chosen weapons. 1 heavy and 1 psychic is all you need for mass desruction.

 

[Daedalos]

Is WOTC still worth it with mods? And which mods are the best now? Any developments? Why are people going back to LW2?

 

[ArchAngel]

Is WOTC still worth it with mods? And which mods are the best now? Any developments? Why are people going back to LW2?

Because it is overall a better game. WOTC has better engine, but that was evil from Firaxis to not implement engine improvements into base game.

EDIT: Or if I was to go into more details, LW2 still has better and more strategic geoscape where you don't get exactly 4-5 missions per month but much much more and failing them is not such a big penalty and you are not even expected to win or even try them all but pick and choose what you can and hope you did well enough (kind of like original UFO).

LW2 soldier bonding system is based around officer and units getting bonuses from being in same team with the officer longer. Officer gets bonuses like extra actions that he can give to other members of the squad within certain radius.
WotC bonding system is only between two units and it makes your troops too OP. Also the bonuses outside the extra action are often invisible and useless.

New classes and skill in LW2 are also very interesting but more balanced than what WoTC has. For example Reaper is a completely OP version of Shinobi. Shinobi also gives you a big scouting bonus and can do some missions alone but you need to play smarter with it. Fucking up with Reaper is only a matter of bad luck, not that much strategic placement (I had them lose concealment because aliens would get activated by Lost and then move to cover next to Reaper which was not that close to those aliens).

Different abilities and skills in LW2 are way better balanced than what WotC offers. Combat with 8 troops in mission one and being able to bring between 1 and 10 soldier to most missions (with its own cost or benefit) gives you way more freedom to play as you want. Not basing your whole tactic on blowing up enemy cover and then one shotting them changes how you play the game. More item slots from day 1 and temporary HP armors make it so you can bring more utility items into missions and regularly use flashbangs and smoke grenades during battles with them having a real effect on the battlefield.

Combat in LW2 is not based around waiting for enemy to walk into overwatch traps, you need to be prepared that enemy can hear sounds of battle, and come from a side and get to move and attack on their turn. No more putting everyone on roof and waiting until enemy comes and you get free overwatch on everyone. Yea you can do that but if one of enemies survives that guy now gets a shot at your guy that is outside of cover.

You will lose people no matter how well you play but since you can field bigger troop numbers per mission your missions don't end when you do (especially if you use lower ranked troops to be those guys in risky positions). This part feels more like original UFO than nuXcom.

Timers on missions are balanced better now, they invite stronger and stronger reinforcements and don't instantly end missions (WotC did fix some timers but also left a bunch of them intact). In a bunch of missions you get your resistance soldiers to fight alongside you and they are not OP like what WotC tried to implement.

WotC didn't fix anything about early and end game balance. Start of Xcom 2 is still hard and end is even easier.

LW2 makes start easier but mid game and late game harder.

LW2 has no Chosen or Lost. Both were not a good addition to Xcom2. We don't need superhero units like Chosen in Xcom like games and Lost are irritating after two missions. Also once you learn how to play those missions, getting a Lost only missions is autowin.

Overall still a superior product.

 

[Space Satan]

7.7 Gb patch...
Gameplay – Strategy Layer

• Beta Strike now is applied to XCOM soldiers if the tutorial is enabled
• Scientists and engineers can no longer be used while deployed on Covert Actions
• Fixed base game soldier promotion abilities not being free in the Training Center if a cross-class ability is purchased first
• Fixed a visual issue with the inventory menu after selecting a Grenadier's utility item or grenade slot in the Hangar.
• Fixed Resistance Order card duplication
• Fixed a navigation issue caused by empty Resistance Order card slots
• Tutorial: Players can now re-enter the Research screen if they’ve tried to exit during the tutorial.
• Fixed an issue that prevented soldiers from being dismissible after completing Lost and Abandoned with the Tutorial enabled
• Fixed the conventional weapon breakthrough tech causing "+1 Damage" to display on the claymore when viewed in the Armory
• Soldiers in the Character Pool now generate with a background
• Scavengers Resistance Order now only applies to resource-based POI rewards
• Weapon color defaults to 20 now instead of -1 to prevent mismatched color previews
• Camera outline and poster display update on screen change
• Fixed an issue with SPARKs getting permanently stuck in a wounded yet "Available" state after going on Chosen Stronghold missions
• Fixed the Lost World Dark Event to expire correctly
• Fixed lingering cohesion glow after creating a new bond
• Fixed an issue where faction soldiers in the Training Center promotion screen would not appear when cycling through soldiers
• Removed references to Resistance HQ from strategy notifications
• Removed the ability for soldiers to gain positive traits as part of the AWC post-mission negative trait recovery mechanic
• Soldiers on Covert Actions no longer drop their equipped items when the player enters the squad select screen
• Fixed Rescue Soldier missions sometimes appearing with no reward if you fail it the first time
• Adding additional text to the Reaper's Silent Killer ability description
• Fixed weapons with mods attached not upgrading to the next tier for soldiers who are deployed on ambush-able Covert Actions

Gameplay – Tactical Layer

• Chosen will be activated only if someone on XCOM team has been revealed
• Fixed a bug where the fog of war fails to update or disappear when the player's Codex creates a clone during a mission
• Fixed an issue where detection tiles would disappear for faction soldiers after loading a save while in concealment
• VIPs using hunker down no longer break concealment
• Berserk Rangers no longer attack squadmates
• Fixed visualization of Archon patrol pathing
• Units now take claymore damage when a claymore is detonated underneath them while on a destructible floor during tactical gameplay
• ADVENT Priests triggering Sustain while standing in the evac zone no longer fails the mission
• Alien Rulers get a 1.5X HP boost when Beta Strike is enabled
• Fixed an issue where Purifiers became unresponsive after their clone made from Shadowbind was destroyed
• Bladestorm and Retribution excludes teammates as valid targets
• Enemy reinforcement visual indicator no longer disappears
• Chosen can no longer turn into cocoons from Chryssalid poison
• Spectres hit with Stasis will no longer prevent shadowbound units from recovering when the Spectre is killed
• Fixed missing flyover for Lightning Reflexes
• Gremlins only reveal hidden units after a hack attempt is made
• Changed Skirmisher Ionic Ripjack stun chance to 25%
• Darkclaw now gains the effects of equipped ammo
• Brutal Chosen strength temporarily decreases soldier Will
• Fixed ambient lighting not being applied in some non-tactical areas
• Targetable enemy indicator refreshes correctly after navigating tactical menus
• Fixed an issue where help text and other pop-ups would not trigger during the tutorial
• Units provided by the Volunteer Army & Double Agent Resistance Orders will no longer count as units lost during a campaign
• Updated Mimic Beacon behavior for Purifier, Priest, Spectre, and shadowbound units
• Added AI AoE finder updates to enable AoE attacks on Mimic Beacons
• Fixed an issue preventing Mimic Beacons from being attacked more than once by purifiers
• Skulljack now kills units instantly if Beta Strike is enabled
• Shredded armor no longer reappears after reloading a save
• Fixed an issue where Skirmishers could use Wrath to move to an area, but not perform a melee attack
• Fixed infinite visualization hang when X2Action_WaitForAnotherAction fails to receive the event trigger it is registered for
• Fixed issue with claymores not being immediately targetable by the Reaper
• Reduced Chosen Hunter pistol range
• Skulljack no longer prevents a unit from becoming concealed
• Supply Extraction loot now recovered if XCOM evacs from the mission
• Fixed a loss of functionality caused by simultaneously entering a rescue circle and triggering a Lost pod during a Rescue Stranded Resistance Agents mission
• Fixed crash caused by too many Lost on screen at one time
• Restricting spawns in the corners of some parcels to prevent Chosen from being stuck if they spawn in the corner of a map
• Slightly reducing the aim of Retaliation civilian militia and Volunteer Army soldiers
• Shadowbound units don't get abilities granted from Sustaining Spheres. This matches up with shadowbound units not getting built in Sustain ability from units either
• Prevent Chosen Kidnap / Extract on special units that come from HQ via Double Agent or Volunteer Army
• Fix for an indefinite hang when a unit gets the burning status effect when moving for a Skullmine action during tactical gameplay
• Holy Warrior effects no longer persist after the Priest is removed from the mission(evac)
• Chosen Sarcophagus health displays correctly after loading a save game while the shield is up
• Bluescreen Rounds no longer affect destructibles
• Updated Shadowbind to remove the Parthenogenic Poison from the target
• Decoupled GameStateUnit and asynchronous pawn load requests to prevent hung levels and crashes on level load Fixed crashes related to GetAllViewersOfTarget
• Fixed crashes related to GetAllVisibleToSource
• Fixed crashes related to GetAllViewersOfLocation
• Fixed crashes caused by for large block of LoadMap crashes
• Fixed GetWorldInfo crashes on RenderThread
• FixedProtection against IsAudible crashes from effects

Challenge Mode

• Added new event notifications: 5 Enemy Kills, Concealment Broken, First Soldier Wounded, Killed a Sectopod or Gatekeeper, Lost a Sectopod or Gatekeeper, and Completed Mission
• Challenge Mode replay improvements: show the reaper roll, skip challenge points banners, disable mission narratives
• Added user score and total players to Challenge Mode squad select screen
• Changed Challenge events to display completion percentages of total players for an event
• ADVENT soldiers now take an action when their shadowbound clone is killed
• Enemy units will now move or take actions when the player Shadowbinds another enemy unit in the same pod
• Challenge Mode replays will now automatically start playing
• Fixed an issue where Focus drops were not occurring in Challenge mode
• additional score break down and stats to leaderboard
• Consolidated the objective and enemy score decrease messages into one message when appropriate
• Fixed an issue causing Challenges to auto-complete

Misc

• Modding - Added files to improve compatibility between the game and uncooked content
• Character Pool now checks base game and expansion directories for available pools
• Fixed Character Pool lighting when on Stronghold shell screen
• Fixed a crash with the Character Pool trying to access a version of a unit that no longer exists
• Added a button to open the local Photobooth directory from the game
• Class pose filtering is skipped when doing a memorial shot

• Additional crash and bug fixes

 

[Zombra]

Only for the expansion, I suppose.

 

[Nirvash]

LW2 has no Chosen or Lost. Both were not a good addition to Xcom2.

Nope, it's too late now.

I need my templar now, always.

 

[ArchAngel]

• Changed Skirmisher Ionic Ripjack stun chance to 25%

RIP Skirmisher :D

 

[Space Satan]

They were already shit tier and not they are squaddie tier. Basically a squaddie with command ability

 

[ArchAngel]

They were already shit tier and not they are squaddie tier. Basically a squaddie with command ability

With 100% stun and two attacks per round they were god tier.

 

[Grunker]

Basically a squaddie with command ability

...and an insanely accurate pull-ability that was an instant kill even without stun because it took enemies out of cover

 

[luinthoron]

• VIPs using hunker down no longer break concealment

I'm just glad to see this fixed, was not a fun surprise discovering this problem during a challenge mode mission...

 

[ArchAngel]

• VIPs using hunker down no longer break concealment

I'm just glad to see this fixed, was not a fun surprise discovering this problem during a challenge mode mission...

For me it is this:

• Berserk Rangers no longer attack squadmates

Almost killed one mission where ranger with fear of mutons went berserk and decided to slash a reaper that was forward and found those mutons... lost concealment advantage and both ranger and reaper in that mission.

 

[Space Satan]

Already have about 20 gatecrashers for L\I.
Almost impossible o get 5th squadmate until first retaliation. Infirmary is vital. resistance ring is going first.

 

[ArchAngel]

Already have about 20 gatecrashers for L\I.
Almost impossible o get 5th squadmate until first retaliation. Infirmary is vital. resistance ring is going first.

You are doing something wrong then. If you feed kills to your one soldier you can easily get him to Stg after 3 missions. And get 5th slot unlocked if you put 1st engineer in GTS.

 

[Space Satan]

Yeah but it is hard, espeially with tiredness mechanics

 

[ArchAngel]

Yeah but it is hard, espeially with tiredness mechanics

Turn off Lost and Found introduction shit. You skip the boring mission and get one of the special soldiers on Gatecrasher mission who starts as sq.

 

[Galdred]

Yeah but it is hard, espeially with tiredness mechanics

Send your tired highest ranked soldiers to battle even if he wants to slack off.
The penalty for doing so is offset by getting the GTS earlier.

 

[Mazisky]

any MODERN game like Xcom? i can't find one

Only 4x or Rpgs

 

[KevinV12000]

My PC was down for a bit, waiting for a new power supply as my old one was burned out after dealing with power fluctuations in the various developing countries I work in, so I started playing X-Com 2 on my son's console. I found it pretty enjoyable, but was really getting my ass handed to me at first. I figured out fairly quickly that the learning/challenge curve is steep, and I need to move asap on weapons and armor improvements, as well as squad size and other important matters.

I finally found my groove, and started giving as good as I got, and then started really dishing it out. Once I got up to beam pistols the counter-intuitive decision I took to level up my two Sharpshooters in pistols really, really paid off.

So, I'm cruising along and last night at about 1am it became clear to me that I was approaching the end. Naturally, I stayed up even later and saw it through. I was playing on Iron Man, naturally, for fear of a visit by RPG Codex SWAT teams busting in to stop my pussying out.

Made it to the assault on the Advent Fortress and then into what I believe is the final room, where you have to kill three Avatars and fend off a ridiculous amount of tough reinforcements every turn.

My squad fought brilliantly. One Avatar went down, and they were formed up in a nice power rectangle formation for maximum firepower, withing striking range of the other two. I can only assume killing those two would trigger some end scene or other jump because at this point there were at least 15 other high-powered aliens on the battlefield. They were hanging in there, and just before being felled by three critical hits in a row, my Scottish Sharpshooter must have taken out 8 or 9 bad guys in a row using the Shoot-Out pistol skill.

It was a wonder to behold. The screen was moving slowly there were so many aliens and effects being displayed.

They got hit the next round by a wave of psionic fields and "weapon malfunction" fields thrown up by the two Avatars and at least five codexes. (Codeci?) At the end of this alien round, not three, but six Andromedons entered the field to either side of us, then moved to take their positions.

Our round. Killed one Avatar, and put so many other aliens down I lost count. But that wave of Andromedons had only been softened up. I knew they were coming and that we'd be hit by a sea of acid.

Alien round started. I couldn't watch. It was time for a peanut butter sandwich and a handful of salt-and-vinegar chips, eating in the kitchen to the sounds of this Mexican city still partying at 3.30am. Went back.

Only two still standing: my late-addition psi operative and the Commander Avatar. Both relatively untouched, but that wave of acid I was looking at was awesome to behold. It wasn't pools of acid, it was a SEA of acid.

Get that last Avatar. That was clearly the one and only goal. The last Avatar had 7hp left, no armor, no shielding.

Move the Commander Avatar to flank, avoiding acid through a narrow path. Line up the shot. 76% chance to hit.

Pulled the trigger. DODGE-GLANCE for 6hp the result. Avatar has 1hp left. I got this.

But wait! Avatar moves during our round, teleports after taking damage, pops up a good distance away.

But still within striking distance of my last remaining soldier, the psi operative.

Manoever the psi op, line up the shot. 92% chance to hit. Avatar has 1hp left, no armor, no shielding.

Pulled the trigger.

MISSED.

Alien round. Avatar heals 5hp, kills psi operative. Commander Avatar takes one, two, three and then four hits from Andromedons. Goes down.

GAME OVER.

Aliens won.

 

[luinthoron]

Manoever the psi op, line up the shot. 92% chance to hit. Avatar has 1hp left, no armor, no shielding.

Pulled the trigger.

MISSED.

Please tell me you did this because the psi op had none of his psi abilities without a hit roll left...

 

[KevinV12000]

Manoever the psi op, line up the shot. 92% chance to hit. Avatar has 1hp left, no armor, no shielding.

Pulled the trigger.

MISSED.

Please tell me you did this because the psi op had none of his psi abilities without a hit roll left...

Yes, that's right. She had nothing in the tank left but her plasma rifle.

My PC is back with me now and I'm playing another campaign. I really don't like these two DLC add-ons (shen's gift and the former sci advisor's experiments). The missions for both are good, but their effect on the game isn't worth the hassle of the ridiculous "Ruler" bad guys. The new weapons are meh, to the extreme. Meh squared.

If this goes well, I may give the new expansion a try.

 

[Galdred]

Manoever the psi op, line up the shot. 92% chance to hit. Avatar has 1hp left, no armor, no shielding.

Pulled the trigger.

MISSED.

Please tell me you did this because the psi op had none of his psi abilities without a hit roll left...

Yes, that's right. She had nothing in the tank left but her plasma rifle.

My PC is back with me now and I'm playing another campaign. I really don't like these two DLC add-ons (shen's gift and the former sci advisor's experiments). The missions for both are good, but their effect on the game isn't worth the hassle of the ridiculous "Ruler" bad guys. The new weapons are meh, to the extreme. Meh squared.

If this goes well, I may give the new expansion a try.

The expansion makes the DLC much better:
It makes Sparks useful and restrict the Alien rulers by making them guard Avatar facilities and toned them down a lot (they don't react to actions they cannot see, so your sniper can have a field day if your spotter is concealed. There were even mods to tone the nerf down, because it was getting ridiculous).

 

[Mazisky]

I know better blame 2k cause complaining rich producers is the favourite job of nerds in random forums, but:

1-2k is the only triple A producer who is investing in high budget turn based games

2-2k restored one of the best and forgotten franchise while others just do the opposite (see Ea)

3-2k gave huge support to modding by giving tools

4-2k helped Pavonis opening them the gates of videogames industry and financed a huge free mod

Said that, i am happy that those guys now can put all efforts on their own game.

 

[mastroego]

Fuck, I bought XCOM 2 for this.
I got assfucked.

 

[Galdred]

Fuck, I bought XCOM 2 for this.
I got assfucked.

It is depressing to think about what they could have turned WOTC into