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

[JDR13]

The problem with X2 is the same with any game with DLC content: power creep. The normal campaign remains the same but the extra powerful armour and weapons made it easier. Once you get them, of course. The end game basically becomes much easier.

I haven't played with WotC yet, but it sucks to hear that the endgame gets even easier. I recently finished vanilla XCOM 2 + Shen's Last Gift & Alien Hunters, and the last 20-25% was way too easy except for the final battle.

Have you played Phoenix Point? How does that compare difficulty-wise?

 

[Cael]

The problem with X2 is the same with any game with DLC content: power creep. The normal campaign remains the same but the extra powerful armour and weapons made it easier. Once you get them, of course. The end game basically becomes much easier.

I haven't played with WotC yet, but it sucks to hear that the endgame gets even easier. I recently finished vanilla XCOM 2 + Shen's Last Gift & Alien Hunters, and the last 20-25% was way too easy except for the final battle.

Have you played Phoenix Point? How does that compare difficulty-wise?

Is that the game that was billed as the mecha version of XCom? No. I haven't played it.

WOTC makes it easier because it introduces the Reapers, which is a pretty OP unit. Killing the Chosen also gives you ability points, and you can keep farming them. And the Chosen's weapons are pretty nasty (the Assassin's sword never misses and does slightly more damage than a fully upgraded normal sword amd her shotgun has half the range penalties of a normal shotgun, the Sniper's rifle only cost 1 action to use and his pistol ignores 5 points of armour and do more damage than a fully upgraded normal pistol, the Warlock's rifle automatically crits vs psionic enemies).

So, yes, things become easier as your units are more powerful and with better weapons.

 

[Parabalus]

Have you played Phoenix Point? How does that compare difficulty-wise?

With all DLCs enabled it's harder and the difficulty is more consistent than in WotC, barring a few broken combos.

 

[mastroego]

Well, I've finalized the list of mods I wanted, pressed the (re)install button and.... download size 75 GB.
No thanks, not right now....
Guess I'll wait a while.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Well, I've finalized the list of mods I wanted, pressed the (re)install button and.... download size 75 GB.
No thanks, not right now....
Guess I'll wait a while.

Yeah, the file size bloat when it comes to modern games is pretty horrendous.
I miss the days where the average size of a modern title was like 20 gigs.

 

[mastroego]

And I'm on plain ol' ADSL
Free SSD space 140 GB, technically I might install it but I'm not in the mood, and it'd take like 3 days.

I used to think modded Skyrim at about 30 GBs was pushing it...

 

[Parabalus]

And I'm on plain ol' ADSL
Free SSD space 140 GB, technically I might install it but I'm not in the mood, and it'd take like 3 days.

I used to think modded Skyrim at about 30 GBs was pushing it...

XCOM2 is probably excessive because they pack both the plain and WotC, essentially two separate games.

 

[Eyestabber]

Well, I've finalized the list of mods I wanted, pressed the (re)install button and.... download size 75 GB.
No thanks, not right now....
Guess I'll wait a while.

But ur missing out!!!

Killed the 160 HP Hive Queen yesterday. I strongly suggest using "The Hive" for additional late game challenge. "The Hive More" adds some extra Chryssalid-related activities BUT it does hog your sitreps pretty hard. You won't be seeing other neutral factions once the Hive "story" kicks off. Not until you slay the Queen.

Speaking of difficulty:

This + commander difficulty is what I use for a "Doom on Ultra Violence" experience. DON'T play Legend, it's every bit as retarded as it was back in 2016 and forces you into REALLY boring strategies.

That does sound cool, it's just that the SCP logos are weird to me.
It's like having metro armor sets in Stalker, it doesn't fit imo.

Well...

Here's an MTF using "Return Fire" against an ADVENT Priest. You be the judge on whether or not it "fits" the game. IMO you seem to care about thematic coherence more than the devs themselves.

And speaking of AI on AI action:

This ADVENT guy is starting to think MAYBE bringing in Chryssalids wasn't the Elders' most enlightened decision.

This Archon decides to TAP DAT ASS but....

Aliens and ADVENT can also be turned into cocoons.

Be warned when using "The Hive": even when the Feral Hive faction starts showing up, NOT ALL LIDS are under the Queen's control. Meaning you'll still fight Lids under the regular "Alien" banner. This is intended as the Queen (and Juvenile Queens too) has a skill that allows her to take control of Alien aligned (AND XCOM MIND CONTROLLED) Chryssalids.

 

[mastroego]

Well the big chunk of work was selecting the mods, now they're all "safely" listed and subscribed to.
I might add this one indeed. The Hive you say?
But I'll still probably wait for the time when I'll be more or less forced to buy a new PC....

 

[Parabalus]

I was going to try A Better Barracks, for soldier classes, in my next run.
I never even tried LOTWC (nor vanilla LW2) since what I heard about it already convinced me it is not a real Long War sequel.

I tried LWotC recently (never touched a LW before) and agree completely with Eyestabber's take on it:

gave up on LWOTC. I don't remember the last time I saw a mod get so much right and yet fail completely and utterly at providing fun. Everything takes too damn long, to the point that I would do an infiltration and play the mission on the next gaming session, totally forgetting WTF that was about (something you can't afford in LW). The game also adds a new squad system that does little to alleviate the issue of having to manage 100+ soldiers. On top of that you have the Bond system AND the new officer system. So EVERY mission has about 20 min of going through lists and thinking "can I take this guy?". Not particularly engaging.

I played several runs with the AB:X stack and liked it much more, the ABB classes are similar to the LWotC ones as well.

 

[Eyestabber]

Well the big chunk of work was selecting the mods, now they're all "safely" listed and subscribed to.
I might add this one indeed. The Hive you say?
But I'll still probably wait for the time when I'll be more or less forced to buy a new PC....

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1918499687

There is no real conflict with ABA, but both mods add new Chryssalids, which might make things a bit confusing.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1918585695

Use the companion if you want your entire campaign to feature hive related activities. Skip this if you simply want the Feral Hive to show up late game as extra to-do stuff. It WILL hog your sitreps, which is why you should also have:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1157127420

I'm almost finished with my current campaign and I had zero lost related crashes. In my previous campaign I had one crash in a Raider Base Assault, yet another reason for skipping that mod. That's right folks: it's safe to remove the retardo zombies.

I played several runs with the AB:X stack and liked it much more, the ABB classes are similar to the LWotC ones as well.

Maybe try RPGO next?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1280477867

 

[mastroego]

I actually don't dislike the Lost. In fact, I added to my list a mod that adds models variety and stuff, IIRC.

 

[Eyestabber]

Done. Wrote a full autism manifesto guide to mods for this game. If anyone here still cares about Xcom 2, MAYBE check it out and find some ideas for your next campaign.

 

[Angelo85]

XCOM 2’s multiplayer will be shut down this month

XCOM 2’s multiplayer will be shut down this month

It’s now six years after XCOM 2 released on Steam, and one of the best strategy games on PC is about to lose two big features. In a new update, developer Firaxis Games reveals it will shut XCOM 2’s multiplayer and other online modes by the end of this month.

XCOM 2 is one of the best turn-based strategy games ever made, but it seems like the online side of the game may not be that popular. XCOM 2’s multiplayer consisted of players taking control of humans and aliens to mix-and-match a squad, similar to the first game. An online leaderboard-based Challenge Mode was also added with the War of the Chosen expansion.

Unfortunately for fans of these modes, Firaxis has announced that it “will be retiring services for multiplayer and Challenge Mode for the Steam version” of XCOM 2 on March 28, 2022 – although this only applies to PC users as the Mac version won’t be touched, apparently. On this date, XCOM 2 will receive an update that will remove both modes.

The developer says that “the decision to retire these services isn’t something done lightly, but it does allow us to refocus our resources” – hopefully on XCOM 3. The multiplayer for XCOM: Enemy Unknown, however, will still remain available for the foreseeable future.

XCOM 3 hasn’t yet been announced, leaving Marvel’s Midnight Suns the next strategy game coming from Firaxis. It looks like a combination of XCOM, Mass Effect, and Into The Breach, although sadly, you won’t be able to romance Wolverine.

Well F me, up until right now I didn't even know that there was a Mutiplayer component in XCOM 2 :D

 

[Cyberarmy]

Xcom 2 had multiplayer ?!?!?! Was it PvP like in Fallout Tactics?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

fucking hate this "retiring online services" bullshit
release the servers so players can host their own and stop stealing features from paying customers you chucklefucks

 

[jackofshadows]

Well F me, up until right now I didn't even know that there was a Mutiplayer component in XCOM 2 :D

Haven't played it myself but friends told me back at the time that it was absolutely broken in terms of balance, unplayable. For some time everyone been playing Codex(es) (their cloning ability could've been triggered by the player himself), no idea if it was fixed later (doubtful).

 

[OSK]

Why shut down only the Windows version? It's still going to work on Linux, Mac, and consoles.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Why shut down only the Windows version? It's still going to work on Linux, Mac, and consoles.

I suspect feral is the one operating the linux/mac online version.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

So, I see gog is having a sale on Xcom-xcom 2 and bureau; are these games that good? I'll eventually peruse the 200+ pages but what's the low down on these compared to the originals?

 

[mastroego]

They're good with mods

 

[Ironmonk]

Mods are essential and the steamworkshop is the better option for up-to-date + variety of mods (Nexus, AFAIK is very outdated or ignored... at least for x-com2)

Buying it on gog doesn't seem like a good idea.

 

[Parabalus]

Mods are essential and the steamworkshop is the better option for up-to-date + variety of mods (Nexus, AFAIK is very outdated or ignored... at least for x-com2)

Buying it on gog doesn't seem like a good idea.

You can run mods fine on the GoG version.

No really reason to load up on mods for the first blind playthrough, better to ditch it and then install if really needed. Outside of some QoL stuff maybe.

 

[Alienman]

So, I see gog is having a sale on Xcom-xcom 2 and bureau; are these games that good? I'll eventually peruse the 200+ pages but what's the low down on these compared to the originals?

I love the bureau. It's my guilty pleasure. I got it for like 2 euros or something back in the day, expecting it to be pure ass. Man, was I wrong. It's a mix between X-files, campy 50's alien movies, and Mass Effect. Wrote a short review about it recently.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I've been watching a lot of xfiles on COMET TV lately so Bureau really interests me.