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

[Turtle-Zone 3000]

mm..mm..mods will fix it

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Fortunately, there is now an overwatch icon. So none of that bullshit anymore.

Wait, wasn't there always an overwatch icon? Is that something LW added? I could've sworn LW had overwatch warnings for enemies. Either that or I'm just used to making a mental note of who used overwatch, easy enough since you face like 1 'pod' of enemies at a time, most of the time.

Not in the vanilla game. In the vanilla game you are never sure.

 

[Volrath]

These days you should be adding roughly a year to a release date to get the actual release date (of the so-called GoTY/complete/ultimate/enhanced/whatever edition of the game).

And then you need to add up to another 6 to 8 months to buy it at 75% off.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Spoiler

Or you can pirate it to see if its worth it in the first place. I will buy it eventually, but checking to see if its worth what they are charging is always a viable option

 

[Gord]

Most losses of post-invasion XCOM are actually not inflicted by aliens but by your soldiers having to jump towards the ropes dangling at the back of the Skyranger and missing them.

 

[Zeriel]

Another one for whom cover is a challenging concept.



This one is quite interesting. A move that technically didn't cross any red tiles nonetheless caused environmental destruction that broke concealment. Bug or feature? Could've been avoided by using waypoints.

They were talking about this before. Breaking windows/slamming doors by moving through them is considered "going loud", the aliens would be expected to hear it. You are supposed to avoid running through windows, and use the "open door" action instead when you are being stealthy.

I have no idea how he mind controlled the stun lancer.

I didn't watch the video, but there is a hacking bonus that gives you control of a random enemy for a few turns. The hacking bonuses are full of stuff like that, I especially love the ones that provide geoscape rewards.

 

[Sykar]

I didn't watch the video, but there is a hacking bonus that gives you control of a random enemy for a few turns. The hacking bonuses are full of stuff like that, I especially love the ones that provide geoscape rewards.

Yeah that's probably what happened. Random enemy control seems like a bad idea though, running the risk of activating more pods and getting outnumbered.

From what I could see, you alarm all aliens on the map regardless. The pod mechanic seems to be non existent.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

I didn't watch the video, but there is a hacking bonus that gives you control of a random enemy for a few turns. The hacking bonuses are full of stuff like that, I especially love the ones that provide geoscape rewards.

Yeah that's probably what happened. Random enemy control seems like a bad idea though, running the risk of activating more pods and getting outnumbered.

From what I could see, you alarm all aliens on the map regardless. The pod mechanic seems to be non existent.

I wish that were true because it would make more sense than the EU/EW system but it doesn't seem like that is the case. After concealment breaks, the other patrols on the map don't beeline to your position, and they only display the activation animation when sighted. It may be that they shift their patrols due to noises, but the game doesn't seem like it's balanced against the whole map converging on your squad.

It could be that they approach your squad when unactivated, and then become activated when seen. Enemy Within did that too, but rarely.

 

[Zeriel]

I didn't watch the video, but there is a hacking bonus that gives you control of a random enemy for a few turns. The hacking bonuses are full of stuff like that, I especially love the ones that provide geoscape rewards.

Yeah that's probably what happened. Random enemy control seems like a bad idea though, running the risk of activating more pods and getting outnumbered.

From what I could see, you alarm all aliens on the map regardless. The pod mechanic seems to be non existent.

I wish that were true because it would make more sense than the EU/EW system but it doesn't seem like that is the case. After concealment breaks, the other patrols on the map don't beeline to your position, and they only display the activation animation when sighted. It may be that they shift their patrols due to noises, but the game doesn't seem like it's balanced against the whole map converging on your squad.

It could be that they approach your squad when unactivated, and then become activated when seen. Enemy Within did that too, but rarely.

It's the Hunt AI function. If one enemy sees you, every other AI that is activated will try to seek you out. If no AI has you in LoS this doesn't happen.

 

[Zeriel]

Well whether that function is accurate or not, the behavior remains in LW at least to some degree. It's especially egregious with the bug they have with pack splitting, where a pod will split up but still activate as one.

Edit to remove quote pyramid.

 

[Grotesque]

The ones that made Long War mod expressed their intention to make something similar for X-COM 2?

Also at the end of the last X-COM the alien boss said something about a greater menace and that was their motive for invading Earth.
I thought that will be the next subject for X-COM 2 but I guess this is reserved now for X-COM 3.

 

[Zeriel]

Nah, Long War modders are working on their own game now. I wouldn't worry too much, Long War's scope actually wasn't that insane now that we have proper mod tools, it is mostly script/UI edits.

The ones that made Long War mod expressed their intention to make something similar for X-COM 2?

Also at the end of the last X-COM the alien boss said something about a greater menace and that was their motive for invading Earth.
I thought that will be the next subject for X-COM 2 but I guess this is reserved now for X-COM 3.

I don't get why people always interpret the ending that way. To me, it sounded like the Ethereals weren't talking about a threat at all. They were talking about the rest of their race that ascended (Stargate ancients style), and their current motive is simply finding a way to brute-force themselves to ascension via humans psionic potential.

 

[FuriousGamer87]

Nah, Long War modders are working on their own game now.

Any source?

 

[Zombra]

Inquiring minds want to know: will XCOM 2 allow all localization files for soldier barks like in Enemy Within? I want to hear my guys yelling in Polish and German.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Inquiring minds want to know: will XCOM 2 allow all localization files for soldier barks like in Enemy Within? I want to hear my guys yelling in Polish and German.

Some soldier yelled in his mother language in videos above, so yes.

Also they changed the friggin deployment music!?!? That was the best part of first Nu-Xcom!

 

[Tytus]

I don't get why people always interpret the ending that way. To me, it sounded like the Ethereals weren't talking about a threat at all. They were talking about the rest of their race that ascended (Stargate ancients style), and their current motive is simply finding a way to brute-force themselves to ascension via humans psionic potential.

People are talking about it that way, because of what the Etherals say if you lose. Even if you defeat every other alien on the Temple Ship, but last remaining Etheral will kill you - you get a speech about how Humanity is another failure. So if kicking their asses is not passing a test what is? Well the writing of the game makes you believe that entire limited warfare invasion is a test. Even the black hole weapon at the end is a test to check if human psychic mind is developed enough to prevent it. Take into consideration that Etherals had many failures before (Sectoids, Muthos, Snakemen) and they're running out of time. As the german doctor says to you after authopsy. Their bodies are ancient and are basically shriveling up. So this time they actually have to be certain that the new race will be able to save them - let them ascend. So the logical conclusion of the game should be - Humans repel the limited warfare invasion, thus passing the test - the real invasion begins and everybody gets curb-stomped. Thus you have XCOM2 with earth under alien control without resorting to retconing the entirety of the previous fucking game and it's expansion. But Firaxis instead went with the Idiot Ball plot, that doesn't make any sense. For example - Commander being their secret weapon when he didn't even was able to prove himself against the aliens (becasue according to the new canon project was wiped out early on) is stupid. How do they even know he will be a better commander then dozens of other generals or even Bradford himseld.

Also there is a possibility that the writers were just super shitty and wrote themselves into a corner with the ending of the first one, becasue despite what they wrote and what they conveyed to the player they considered the Temple Ship to be the full extent of the invasion.

So it's either they retconned the logical development of the story - and this is why people were expecting more aliens to attack Earth in XCOM2.
Or they wanted to be edgy for edginess' sake and made everybody lose because - our gaem waz teh hard 4 casual player so every1 loses!

 

[Jimmious]

No, I think you are over thinking about it and they simply wanted to find a way to make XCOM a small force that fights against some settled power guerilla style. So they thought of this "story" and honestly, who cares? Did anyone ever care about story in these games?

 

[ArchAngel]

No, I think you are over thinking about it and they simply wanted to find a way to make XCOM a small force that fights against some settled power guerilla style. So they thought of this "story" and honestly, who cares? Did anyone ever care about story in these games?

When I look at this topic, I guess some autists do care about it :D

 

[Tytus]

I don't care about the story, but I care about consistency and impact it has on the gameplay.

For example with the current change they totally took out air combat (it sucked in the first one), but removing a system and not giving something in return always rubs me to wrong way. Especially that this time around they had an opportunity to reverse it and make air combat defensive, where you shot down ufos that hunt your base.

Also since the project failed early on they didn't learn anything about the aliens so that means autopsies, interigations and cathing live aliens still in or was is cut?

 

[Jimmious]

I don't care about the story, but I care about consistency and impact it has on the gameplay.

For example with the current change they totally took out air combat (it sucked in the first one), but removing a system and not giving something in return always rubs me to wrong way. Especially that this time around they had an opportunity to reverse it and make air combat defensive, where you shot down ufos that hunt your base.

Also since the project failed early on they didn't learn anything about the aliens so that means autopsies, interigations and cathing live aliens still in or was is cut?

It's clear from the interviews that Firaxis's development philosophy is design first, and then story second to support the design, which is why they had to retcon everything you did in EU/EW. If you want to complain about something, complain about the design of X2, god knows there's plenty to be upset about here.

But even more to be happy about.
Tytus I get your point and yes, we should be concerned of missing/badly implemented features due to their choices but I highly doubt it's the story that drives these choices..

 

[Harg Harfardarssen]

Nah, Long War modders are working on their own game now.

Any source?

I think they've talked about it on the nexusmods forums for Long War. It's going to be called Terra Invictus if you want google around. I found this RPS article pretty quickly, but I'm sure there's more out there if you are interested.

 

[Zeriel]

Eurogamer guy redeemed himself in my eyes. His only mistake was fighting the last reinforcements and not running straight for the evac zone, but arguably it turned out better since he got extra loot.

He's pretty good for a journalist. Not quite Codex material, but as close as you'll probably get. Also, he genuinely liked and played Long War a lot rather than just complimenting it from the perspective of "that looks cool". That's rare in this day and age.

 

[dukeofwhales]

Yeah I quite like Chris Bratt. He does play a lot of strategy games and is generally pretty good at them from the small amount I've seen. I think his constant questions in the first video was just trying to get a handle on the gameplay changes/new mechanics as he is very familiar with EO/EW, rather than needing to be coached through it.

 

[anus_pounder]

I hope randomized stat gains on level up setting isn't hidden behind a fucking 2nd playthrough+ wall this time.

 

[Grotesque]

Xenonauts is more fuckin X-COM than this game.
And Xenonauts is a watered down version.