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

[Zombra]

Damn, I had a guy I wanted to make a Psi Op but didn't realize that only Rookies can go into psi training. Anyone have an idea how to mod a save file to demote a soldier?

U can buy fresh rookies at armory even in late game ^^

Yeah, after I thought about it I decided I can just customize a rookie to look exactly like the guy I want to train and just say it's the same guy. LARPing is important.

environments do look much nicer tho but fuck LOS is fucking broken. Shooting ppl thru walls, activating overwatch thru walls, but noooooooooooo u cant throw nades thru walls.
or sometimes when I aim a nade at a group and for a split second the cursor moves by itself and it misses the armored for -___-

Targeting with grenades, or setting the direction with a sword attack, is like playing fucking Operation. There should really be some kind of confirmation prompt.

Here's a mod compilation:

This is not a good "pack".

Good thing no one's selling them as a "pack"

 

[Outlander]

Here's a mod compilation:

http://www.pcinvasion.com/the-best-xcom-2-mods

Free Camera Rotation

True Concealment (timer doesn't start while undetected)

Disable Timers

Leader Pack (train special perks for squad leaders, from the Long War guys)

Better Tactical Zoom Out

New Countries (extra flags)

Evac All

XCOM Legion (squad size up to 8)

Muton Centurion Alien Pack (new enemy)

No AP Hacking

Accurate Rookies (10+ aim bonus for rookies)

This is not a good "pack". The two timer mods don't make sense together and the accurate rookies will break the balance(as will the complete removal of timers)

It's not meant to be a 'pack', it's just a list of separate mods. I just edited 'compilation' for 'list' to avoid confusion.

 

[mutonizer]

Spoiler

Well, end of August now on my Veteran/Ironman, no end in sight though about to start the chamber room thing. All missions "very difficult" now filled with sectopods, elite mecs and shit but I'm getting into a rhythm lately:
- 2 grenadiers with Double Acid/Plasma.
- 1 mega boosted hacker specialist (think he got 3 "gain hacking skills" boosts so far) with medkit/skullthing
- 3 reaping rangers with mimic/scanner.
And then just scan, acid, reaps. Not much seems to be able to stand after that and allows for a good moving around.

Kind eager to finally progress the main mission though, fucking supplies always lacking

 

[bonescraper]

If you find 'leads' to blacksites in missions (hacking rewards) then you don't have to have the physical connection to the black site location. You basically 'unlock' the mission and can go straight there bypassing the contact with rebels requirement.

If I only knew this earlier...

 

[veevoir]

Well, people who complain about timers obviously haven't brought enough grenadiers with them. Straight path to objective takes 50% less time!

Spoiler

Also apparently prntscr during game outputs incredibly crappy quality. Must turn that steam overlay thingy on

 

[barker_s]

I need some help guys. I really like the game so far. Playing on the Commander difficulty and it seems to be the right challenge for my skill level, except for one thing - recovery times. The game is giving me some mixed signals here. The timers encourage more pro-active tactics, forcing me to keep the pressure on the enemy and taking risky moves. This, however, leads to more wounded soldiers and penalities for that are brutal in this game (28 days in medical for a gravely wounded soldier makes him miss 3-5 missions). Combine it with occasional shitty RNG and me being often surprised by new mechanics and you can see how my campaign slowly but surely turns to shit, even though I've had 100% success rate on all the missions and no casualities for some time now.

So, what's the secret? Are there ways to speed up the healing process, or maybe the trick is to level up multiple soldiers to have as many replacements as possible? I don't want to lower the difficulty because I actually enjoy the challenging battles and the thrill of reaching skyranger in the last possible turn, it's just this single mechanic that's screwing me over.

For now I have installed the instant recovery cheat/mod, since I don't really have time to restart the campaign multiple times and 'git gud', but any tips for the future are welcome.

 

[Ironmonk]

I need some help guys. I really like the game so far. Playing on the Commander difficulty and it seems to be the right challenge for my skill level, except for one thing - recovery times. The game is giving me some mixed signals here. The timers encourage more pro-active tactics, forcing me to keep the pressure on the enemy and taking risky moves. This, however, leads to more wounded soldiers and penalities for that are brutal in this game (28 days in medical for a gravely wounded soldier makes him miss 3-5 missions). Combine it with occasional shitty RNG and me being often surprised by new mechanics and you can see how my campaign slowly but surely turns to shit, even though I've had 100% success rate on all the missions and no casualities for some time now.

So, what's the secret? Are there ways to speed up the healing process, or maybe the trick is to level up multiple soldiers to have as many replacements as possible? I don't want to lower the difficulty because I actually enjoy the challenging battles and the thrill of reaching skyranger in the last possible turn, it's just this single mechanic that's screwing me over.

For now I have installed the instant recovery cheat/mod, since I don't really have time to restart the campaign multiple times and 'git gud', but any tips for the future are welcome.

Get the Healing Bonus that is active while passing time at HQ + Slot a Engineer at the Advanced Warfare Center... with that the time to heal drop significantly.

 

[Alienman]

I need some help guys. I really like the game so far. Playing on the Commander difficulty and it seems to be the right challenge for my skill level, except for one thing - recovery times. The game is giving me some mixed signals here. The timers encourage more pro-active tactics, forcing me to keep the pressure on the enemy and taking risky moves. This, however, leads to more wounded soldiers and penalities for that are brutal in this game (28 days in medical for a gravely wounded soldier makes him miss 3-5 missions). Combine it with occasional shitty RNG and me being often surprised by new mechanics and you can see how my campaign slowly but surely turns to shit, even though I've had 100% success rate on all the missions and no casualities for some time now.

So, what's the secret? Are there ways to speed up the healing process, or maybe the trick is to level up multiple soldiers to have as many replacements as possible? I don't want to lower the difficulty because I actually enjoy the challenging battles and the thrill of reaching skyranger in the last possible turn, it's just this single mechanic that's screwing me over.

For now I have installed the instant recovery cheat/mod, since I don't really have time to restart the campaign multiple times and 'git gud', but any tips for the future are welcome.

Build the advanced warfare room. I think it's called that, and put an engineer in there. That speeds up recovery by 50%. You can also buy faster heal rate with intel at your home territory.

 

[Mr. Pink]

I lost my ironman veteran save because of recovery times. I feel like most of my failures have to do with not understanding what to prioritize. Xcom seems to punish you really hard for not knowing exactly what order to build. I wasted my research on autoposies and story research when I should have rushed armor.

 

[Ivan]

Guns need to be purchased once for all troops forever

but what about the default nades? Do those need to be opted out or can they be completely replaced by "better" nades

having a good time on Ironman Veteran.

 

[baturinsky]

I'm very early in game (second month). Question - should I use upgrades on my current weapons, or they will be wasted when I'll have to replace ballistic guns with laser/plasma?

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

I need some help guys. I really like the game so far. Playing on the Commander difficulty and it seems to be the right challenge for my skill level, except for one thing - recovery times. The game is giving me some mixed signals here. The timers encourage more pro-active tactics, forcing me to keep the pressure on the enemy and taking risky moves. This, however, leads to more wounded soldiers and penalities for that are brutal in this game (28 days in medical for a gravely wounded soldier makes him miss 3-5 missions). Combine it with occasional shitty RNG and me being often surprised by new mechanics and you can see how my campaign slowly but surely turns to shit, even though I've had 100% success rate on all the missions and no casualities for some time now.

So, what's the secret? Are there ways to speed up the healing process, or maybe the trick is to level up multiple soldiers to have as many replacements as possible? I don't want to lower the difficulty because I actually enjoy the challenging battles and the thrill of reaching skyranger in the last possible turn, it's just this single mechanic that's screwing me over.

For now I have installed the instant recovery cheat/mod, since I don't really have time to restart the campaign multiple times and 'git gud', but any tips for the future are welcome.

Healing Bonus at HQ + Engie at Advanced War Center.
I think that gives a total of 200% bonus healing rate.

Also build a guerilla tactics school. You can train a rookie there to become a class of your choice. Only takes 5 days.

Of course, its better to not get hurt at all, so hug high cover, only engage when you have the upper hand, and take flash bangs and smokes.

 

[Zombra]

I'm very early in game (second month). Question - should I use upgrades on my current weapons, or they will be wasted when I'll have to replace ballistic guns with laser/plasma?

You get tons of them. I guess you could sell ones you don't equip, but ... they're meant to be used.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

What's interesting is that you can actually take an upgraded weapon off one soldier and give to another.
So you can completely tool out one of each weapon, and just share it.
Also, weapon upgrades carry over through tiers; if you have a repeater on an assault rifle, the soldier who has it will have a mag rifle with a repeater.
Its...odd.

 

[Bubbles]

It turns out I've been cheating the whole time:

Currently on Commander and below:
> Added aim for Xcom after consecutive misses.
> Reduced aim for aliens after consecutive hits.
> Added aim for Xcom if squad reduced to <4 soldiers.
> Reduced aim for aliens if Xcom is reduced to <4 soldiers.
> Extra hit chance multiplier on all Xcom shots (not on Commander difficulty).

Firaxis in a nutshell.

 

[Anthony Davis]

I've put off buying this for the following reasons I have gathered from reading here, watching friends play, and steam user reviews:

1. spinning the job wheel remains.
2. there are too many timed missions and they tend to be frustrating
3. the sniper was nerfed too hard (somehow?)
3a. the ranger is too OP ?
4. enemies are SUPER fast and can run across fields, climb up two stories and then stab you in the face, all in one turn
5. buggy animations - soldiers trying to break windows that are already broken, or trying to break them and failing - for example
6. buggy gameplay - snake boob woman (the viper) targeting and pulling players through walls - for example
7. poor performance on beefy machines?
8. glitchy UI ?


Is this accurate? Is it better or worse than this?

 

[Zetor]

The only complaints from that list that are really relevant are 6-8, most of the others are... well, things you'd expect from steam reviews. "I just fucked up and died on the first mission... game is broken and terribly designed, dev fix now"

1. Spinning the job wheel is not really a thing, the game is going to get you squaddies you don't have too many of plus you can train rookies at a facility to be any class you want.
2. Timed missions are necessary because the simplistic nature of nuXCOM would turn missions into an overwatch-fest otherwise. They can be frustrating, sure, but at least they force the player to actually take risks and make plays. It's definitely possible to complete all of them in the # of turns provided, and there is a specific upgrade that makes it easier (+move for the first 2 turns for the entire squad in a mission)
3. The sniper is the most powerful unit from midgame on (before that you can play him as a gunslinger hybrid I guess), though they are probably the class that benefits least from stacking -- ie. having two grenadiers is a must, having 2 specialists can work out fine, having 2 differently-specced rangers is also good, but one sniper is probably enough. Once they get Serial, they can kill entire enemy groups at a time. Rangers aren't really op in combat compared to other classes, the Phantom ability is all-but necessary, though (allows you to scout even after the initial engagement).
4. They don't have (much?) more movement points than your soldiers. Also, use flashbangs against stunlancers to neuter them.
5. Yep. Some multi-hit abilities totally glitch out for a few seconds as well, but the enemies still take damage and whatnot, so I wasn't too bothered.
6. Almost all problems of this kind refer to screwy LOS calculation, which can sometimes result in fuck-you situations. Once I tried to throw a grenade into a house through a window, and no matter how I tried I couldn't hit the sectoid standing right next to the aforementioned window, even though it leveled walls and ceilings without problems. Stealth can also break without any warning, sometimes enemies can see through solid brick walls. Solution is to not play ironman.
7. Yep.
8. Sometimes it glitches out, but generally fixes itself. There are definitely some annoying parts about it, like when having to switch between geoscape and base view multiple times (long and annoying animation + slowdown).

Overall, it's Good For What It Is. If you liked nuXCOM, XCOM2 is basically a much-improved version with a strategic layer that actually requires some strategy ever so often.

 

[Anthony Davis]

Thanks for the reply! So you would still recommend a buy?

 

[not an artichoke]

As an addendum to #1, there is no more rookie stat variation, so even on your initial 4-6 promotions that you probably won't directly control it doesn't really matter who gets which job.

If you enjoyed EU/EW, I'd personally recommend a buy. I think this is better than that game was, even considering its warts and blemishes. It has the potential to be far better.

 

[clemens]

Thanks for the reply! So you would still recommend a buy?

If I were you, I'd wait for the next good AAA TB strategy game.

 

[Zetor]

It turns out I've been cheating the whole time:

Currently on Commander and below:
> Added aim for Xcom after consecutive misses.
> Reduced aim for aliens after consecutive hits.
> Added aim for Xcom if squad reduced to <4 soldiers.
> Reduced aim for aliens if Xcom is reduced to <4 soldiers.
> Extra hit chance multiplier on all Xcom shots (not on Commander difficulty).

Firaxis in a nutshell.

What's amusing is that for Commander, the added aim for consecutive misses is HIGHER than on Rookie/Veteran (15% instead of 10%). However, the other cheats are Rookie/Veteran-only. (check XComGameCore.ini line 917+)

 

[Turtle-Zone 3000]

Thanks for the reply! So you would still recommend a buy?

Good performance on your computer isnt guaranteed, i'd hold off a bit.

 

[Zombra]

1. spinning the job wheel remains.

Sort of. You do get access to a training facility pretty early ... but you can only put one guy in at a time and it takes 5 days. So you'll need to use the wheel right at the start, but if you trickle in new recruits after that, you're the boss.

2. there are too many timed missions and they tend to be frustrating

No way. The timers add a lot to the pacing (and not every mission is timed, so their impact is very dynamic). You will like them.

4. enemies are SUPER fast and can run across fields, climb up two stories and then stab you in the face, all in one turn

Stun Lancers are definitely the fuckfaces of the early game. (Kind of like Thin Men in EU.) Not only can they do all that, but their melee attacks reliably one-shot kill unarmored squaddies. Not stun; outright kill. I don't love to hate them. I just hate them.

5. buggy animations - soldiers trying to break windows that are already broken, or trying to break them and failing - for example
6. buggy gameplay - snake boob woman (the viper) targeting and pulling players through walls - for example

Yeah, I think these are due to the modular map generation. Sometimes the legos don't fit together quite like they should. That said, after two rage-inducing missions ruined by holes in the walls on day one, I haven't noticed any problems. Stealth patch? Or was I just unlucky those two times?

7. poor performance on beefy machines?

Gameplay is smooth on my monster PC, but they did the thing again where instead of static load screens, they often show a cutscene of a plane flying or soldiers running around, and these can turn into slideshows depending on what's loading.

Overall, it's a huge improvement over EU despite flaws. If you liked EU and want more and better, buy it.

 

[Cyberarmy]

I'm very early in game (second month). Question - should I use upgrades on my current weapons, or they will be wasted when I'll have to replace ballistic guns with laser/plasma?

Use them, you'll get tons of better version later on and one of the continents bonus recovers them after changing upgrades.

 

[Jasede]

I've put off buying this for the following reasons I have gathered from reading here, watching friends play, and steam user reviews:

1. spinning the job wheel remains.
2. there are too many timed missions and they tend to be frustrating
3. the sniper was nerfed too hard (somehow?)
3a. the ranger is too OP ?
4. enemies are SUPER fast and can run across fields, climb up two stories and then stab you in the face, all in one turn
5. buggy animations - soldiers trying to break windows that are already broken, or trying to break them and failing - for example
6. buggy gameplay - snake boob woman (the viper) targeting and pulling players through walls - for example
7. poor performance on beefy machines?
8. glitchy UI ?


Is this accurate? Is it better or worse than this?

As usual Codex don't know shit, poor insane Jas has to come to the rescue and be sane for a little.

1. No. The game not only automatically makes sure you get 1 of each class automatically (so if you have 2 Sharpshooters, 1 Grenadier, 2 Specialists, 2 Rangers the next Rookie WILL promote to Grenadier.) If that wasn't enough baby-sitting for morons who never played a game with a random element before, you can even train rookies into whatever class you wish using a training facility. AND retrain them.
2. There are some and they are of a satisfying difficulty that keeps you on your toes, balanced out with non-timed missions.
3. The Sharpshooter can become either a Gunslinger or a Sniper. The Sniper isn't quite as OP as it used to be and the Gunslinger is better in more situations, but the Sniper does outshine him in long, open maps with no time limit. That gives him a smaller window to be fantastic in, but when he is in that window, he is the very best. It's a good trade-off.
3a. No more so than the Gunslinger or Psionic or Grenadiers or the Specialist. While Gunslinger and Phantom (a Ranger path) certainly have the edge over all other classes, it doesn't mean that you want to have a squad filled with them. You will still only field 1-2 of them at the most because it's important to keep a balanced squad.
4. Yes, the melee enemies are very fast, or they would be harmless. Use overwatch or kill them first.
5. This does happen once in a while, but it does not diminish the TB game in a single way.
6. Yes, sometimes there are minor LoS issues like this. They will never be fixed and they don't really matter since it hasn't happened to me in 30 hours myself. In fact I have hundreds of XCOM 1 hours and it hasn't happened a single time to me there. Oh, sure, sometimes in the animation people shoot through walls, but only in the animation. Before you take the shot or the enemy does it's clear that they did have line of sight.
7. From what I read this is true only if you insist on turning on everything like an idiot. It's not like the game will look awful if you turn the biggest performance hog down.
8. What? No.


To be fair, Mr. Davis, someone from Obsidian complaining about buggy animations/gameplay is... well... c'mon.
In conclusion, you should wait until the next AAA TB strategy game and skip this one. See you in 2030 where I'll post from my flying car from Neo Tokyo. 気をつけて!

Edit:

As an addendum to #1, there is no more rookie stat variation, so even on your initial 4-6 promotions that you probably won't directly control it doesn't really matter who gets which job.

If you enjoyed EU/EW, I'd personally recommend a buy. I think this is better than that game was, even considering its warts and blemishes. It has the potential to be far better.

You had to enable a Second Wave option for stat variation, unless I am mistaken, so this didn't change.