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

[baturinsky]

https://xcom.com/xcom-2-stats

An interesting page, except games completed are bugged. Still - fascinating that the class getting most kills is the Ranger. People really want to weaboo aliens with a sword. In all my games Ranger was last, though I only use one for scouting and one-trick pony when I really,really want something dead once/twice per mission.

Girl from tutorial mission specced as Ranger and she owns with shotgun. Especially when she got Serial cross-skill.

Spoiler

Rangers are not that good at damage, but they are great at finishing things off. And XCOM 2 is way less punishing in-the-face tactics than, say, LW, because there is not many enemies on missions, and you get thing telling how many of them there are very early in campaing.

 

[Disgruntled]

https://xcom.com/xcom-2-stats

An interesting page, except games completed are bugged. Still - fascinating that the class getting most kills is the Ranger. People really want to weaboo aliens with a sword. In all my games Ranger was last, though I only use one for scouting and one-trick pony when I really,really want something dead once/twice per mission.

I fell in love with rangers, even if the other classes were superior at colonel. Blame Firaxis for gimping swords, the fusion blade should have either shredded or ignored armor imo. My swordgirl was enjoyable to play with death from above, reaper and bladestorm whenever it procd.
Otherwise the shotgun specialist with rapid fire got a lot of kills, Martin here finished with around 90 after the last mission.

Spoiler

Mind you I used no snipers beyond sergeant and 0 psiops.

Im running 2x ranger 2x specialist 2x grenadier
.

Yep, had the same setup. Only regret was healer specialist not using his healing much, got most his use from serial.

 

[veevoir]

Rangers are not that good at damage, but they are great at finishing things off.

For that I have specialists. 2x 4dmg (pretty quick Gremlin upgrade) with no RNG and avoiding armor and extra dmg against robotics - yes please. Perfect for mopping up enemies not killed by grenadiers and snipers.

Rangers are very useful scouts remaining in concealment - especially with the skill that gives +25 aim +25 crit attacking from concealment. Thats a guaranteed murder twice per mission.
BUT:
It is much more beneficial to keep ranger concealed - scouting for superior positioning is incredible. Add to that Long Watch with sniper having LOS to whatever ranger finds - it gives you aliens activating at their own turn, getting shot by sniper (more than once if killzone active), then running towards your team (more overwatch shots) then it is your turn. It is worth far more than whatever ranger was able to do alone. Aand that is probably the reason why my ranger always suck with kills.

EDIT: about swords. Guise, shotgun gets +40% aim point blank, as well as flanking crit chance. Swords get +20 aim point blank and cannot flank. And have to be separately developed. And if they miss - your ranger ends up holding a dick in his hand in the open.
So yeah. They would be much more balanced if to hit chance was 100% OR the always got a flanking crit bonus (theres even mod that makes them 100% accurate).
Currently shotgun rules.

EDIT2: I prefer running 1 ranger, 1 sniper, 2 specialists, 2grenadiers.

 

[Zetor]

Y'all need to run Psi Operatives. They start off strong, and become ridiculously overpowered with a few months of training. Permanent mind control on an andromedon or gatekeeper, 3 different unblockable armor-bypassing damage skills (two of them AOE, and one even applying status effects), a 100% reliable "remove enemy for 1 turn" ability, passive immunity to stuff like fire/acid/explosions... and that's just scratching the surface. Plus they can still use regular armor suits, carry mimic beacon / flashbang, and even shoot a rifle decently well. Only downside is that it takes a while to train them, and you must keep them safe (getting injured also hurts their training).

My Commander endgame team of 4 (going for the "The Few And The Proud" thing) were a specialist, a grenadier, a psi operative and a ranger. Honestly I think replacing the ranger with a second psi-op would've made the team even stronger...

 

[toro]

Ranger: Blademaster + Bladestorm + Untouchable + Reaper was a powerful combination for me.

I used it combination with Threat Assessment from the Specialist. It was perfect for finishing multiple enemies.

 

[ArchAngel]

I went to sleep thinking im done with Xcom2 for a while, then woke up starting a L/I campaign :D

Dont know if this has been mentioned but there was an interesting read on reddit by someone who completed L/I https://www.reddit.com/r/Xcom/comments/45ovye/finally_its_over/ . In summary he used concealment to quietly finish the objective with one or two dudes. Then spent a ton of turns playing overwatch spam for the rest of the mission by finding out where the patrols were going with rangers and scanners. Certain missions he would ignore and spend intel regaining contact instead.

Although i commend the skill and patience involved, it is a bit disheartening to see a roundabout of the old tactics powergamed to win. Dont think Ill try that method, and god knows ill fail anyway if i did.

This guy http://www.twitch.tv/anzleon play L/I and runs around with 3 grenadies, 2 Psi and 1 Specialist. He does not even use cover and kills everything in 1 round.

 

[Stompa]

https://xcom.com/xcom-2-stats

How the fuck are people dying to zombies? Do they have an allergy to flashbangs or just ignore whatever's raising them?

Also that link confirms that there's way too many ADVENT troops in the game and not enough aliens themselves.

 

[ArchAngel]

I would like to see a mod that gives you concealment in all missions, lets you do more while in it (also timers don't start before you break it), but once you are discovered all aliens from all parts of the map converge on you (maybe with slight delays, like each group get an order to move to your position 1 turn after the last one). It would feel more like old game, would solve how you are too OP from mid game beyond and make concealment matter more.

 

[baturinsky]

Y'all need to run Psi Operatives. They start off strong, and become ridiculously overpowered with a few months of training. Permanent mind control on an andromedon or gatekeeper, 3 different unblockable armor-bypassing damage skills (two of them AOE, and one even applying status effects), a 100% reliable "remove enemy for 1 turn" ability, passive immunity to stuff like fire/acid/explosions... and that's just scratching the surface. Plus they can still use regular armor suits, carry mimic beacon / flashbang, and even shoot a rifle decently well. Only downside is that it takes a while to train them, and you must keep them safe (getting injured also hurts their training).

My Commander endgame team of 4 (going for the "The Few And The Proud" thing) were a specialist, a grenadier, a psi operative and a ranger. Honestly I think replacing the ranger with a second psi-op would've made the team even stronger...

Do Psychos gain any kind of training from going on missions, or they only need to spend time in lab?

 

[ArchAngel]

Y'all need to run Psi Operatives. They start off strong, and become ridiculously overpowered with a few months of training. Permanent mind control on an andromedon or gatekeeper, 3 different unblockable armor-bypassing damage skills (two of them AOE, and one even applying status effects), a 100% reliable "remove enemy for 1 turn" ability, passive immunity to stuff like fire/acid/explosions... and that's just scratching the surface. Plus they can still use regular armor suits, carry mimic beacon / flashbang, and even shoot a rifle decently well. Only downside is that it takes a while to train them, and you must keep them safe (getting injured also hurts their training).

My Commander endgame team of 4 (going for the "The Few And The Proud" thing) were a specialist, a grenadier, a psi operative and a ranger. Honestly I think replacing the ranger with a second psi-op would've made the team even stronger...

Do Psychos gain any kind of training from going on missions, or they only need to spend time in lab?

They get nothing from missions and even steal Xp if they kill enemies.

 

[Jimmious]

All these are nice and all but the hard partof the game is to reach the point where you have all this tech. Especially psi ops.

 

[Jimmious]

https://xcom.com/xcom-2-stats

How the fuck are people dying to zombies? Do they have an allergy to flashbangs or just ignore whatever's raising them?

Also that link confirms that there's way too many ADVENT troops in the game and not enough aliens themselves.

Apart from the zombies which I agree are easy to deal with, this proves only that early game is hard and in early game you mainly fight ADVENT

 

[veevoir]

I've never seen a zombie move in my games (and existing more than a turn) apart from one time it was rised across the map during retaliation strike.

Huh, people are weird. Zombie being raised is actually the best thing a sectoid can do - no panic, no mind control, not getting shot in the fucking face with plasma. Trooper is far more deadly, especially if officer marks target. Those trooper assholes have a pretty good aim for a starting enemy.

As for 63% deaths being from collateral damage - that's a fun stat!
I'd assume Viper poison, just like Tin Men in XCOM1, is a pretty deadly instrument. That and hiding behind burning cars, people never learn.

 

[Galdred]

it is more or less what I have been doing, but it only works on missions where you have to destroy something. Actually, I find avoiding enemies pretty fun sometimes. I think it is very hard to engage everyone.

Well performance will not fix itself, wait for a patch :D

I noticed that variety of missions is less in Xcom 2 than in XCom EW. You have Assault Facility that has no timer and the rest that has direct timers or soft timers (like Terror Missions).
Missions with timers come in 8 or 12 turns and all play the same. Only smaller exception is where you get to escort the VIP from round 1.
Even defend this device has you start far away from it and plays the same as Destroy Object in 8 turns and get away mission but timer is not turns but life of that device.
I prefered a lot more the defense missions in EW vs EXALT where you defend two positions and fight vs enemies coming from all sides.

Also since many council missions were not timer based, having timer based missions like bomb defusal made them interesting. Here it all feels the same. Even enemy reinforcement mechanic is worse than in Xcom EU and EW. The Thin men dropping from sky unannounced and all over was much more interesting and harder to deal with (especially in first play when you didn't know where they would drop).

I am not complaining about difficulty of timed mission, just that they all feel same after you done 20+ of them.

As the game is now, even with randomly generated levels I feel less drive to play it again after I finish it once than I did with Xcom EU.
I was afraid of this when they started coming out with details of the game and my fears came true.

Actually, it is not completely true :
The timed missions where you have to destroy something are pretty low risk, because you can usually scout without triggering anyone, and destroy the objective with your snipers (or grenade the wall with your phantom ranger, and destroy the objective with the sniper), and then camp happily.
The missions where you have to protect a location usually don't force you to rush too much, although it depends on how accessible the objective is.
On the other hand, the missions where you evac with a VIP are really hard. You don't always have enough time to deal with every enemies (especially if you did trigger some dark events adding more enemies), and cannot use snipers much.
But I agree that the missions felt more different in XCOM:EW.

 

[ArchAngel]

it is more or less what I have been doing, but it only works on missions where you have to destroy something. Actually, I find avoiding enemies pretty fun sometimes. I think it is very hard to engage everyone.

Well performance will not fix itself, wait for a patch :D

I noticed that variety of missions is less in Xcom 2 than in XCom EW. You have Assault Facility that has no timer and the rest that has direct timers or soft timers (like Terror Missions).
Missions with timers come in 8 or 12 turns and all play the same. Only smaller exception is where you get to escort the VIP from round 1.
Even defend this device has you start far away from it and plays the same as Destroy Object in 8 turns and get away mission but timer is not turns but life of that device.
I prefered a lot more the defense missions in EW vs EXALT where you defend two positions and fight vs enemies coming from all sides.

Also since many council missions were not timer based, having timer based missions like bomb defusal made them interesting. Here it all feels the same. Even enemy reinforcement mechanic is worse than in Xcom EU and EW. The Thin men dropping from sky unannounced and all over was much more interesting and harder to deal with (especially in first play when you didn't know where they would drop).

I am not complaining about difficulty of timed mission, just that they all feel same after you done 20+ of them.

As the game is now, even with randomly generated levels I feel less drive to play it again after I finish it once than I did with Xcom EU.
I was afraid of this when they started coming out with details of the game and my fears came true.

Actually, it is not completely true :
The timed missions where you have to destroy something are pretty low risk, because you can usually scout without triggering anyone, and destroy the objective with your snipers (or grenade the wall with your phantom ranger, and destroy the objective with the sniper), and then camp happily.
The missions where you have to protect a location usually don't force you to rush too much, although it depends on how accessible the objective is.
On the other hand, the missions where you evac with a VIP are really hard. You don't always have enough time to deal with every enemies (especially if you did trigger some dark events adding more enemies), and cannot use snipers much.
But I agree that the missions felt more different in XCOM:EW.

Ok, I agree that destroy object can be played a bit different and yes I did that. Destroy a wall , shoot the thing and then slowly overwatch camp :D
Protect an object was always low timer missions for me. Aliens usually shot at it every turn, I usually had less than 8 turns to at least aggro the aliens around the device so they start shooting at me instead (and on many maps the object was far away).

Still all those missions felt all samey after a while. Lack of UFO missions (both whole and crashed) was felt a lot in the game. They tried to fill them with repeatable "council" missions and added timers but there is not enough variety. The second last mission with only 4 guys was a nice change although an explanation why you only get 4 is as nonsensical as most timed missions in this game.

I would rather see a mission that has you split your team in two groups that have to do accomplish two goals at same time instead of stupid limitations like only 4 guys without a real explanation.

 

[baturinsky]

Still all those missions felt all samey after a while. Lack of UFO missions (both whole and crashed) was felt a lot in the game.

There are UFO missions. They are just rare. I think I have seen two of them before August.

 

[Jimmious]

Still all those missions felt all samey after a while. Lack of UFO missions (both whole and crashed) was felt a lot in the game.

There are UFO missions. They are just rare. I think I have seen two of them before August.

Yeap I had a couple too. Wouldn't mind more of them though

 

[Disgruntled]

This guy http://www.twitch.tv/anzleon play L/I and runs around with 3 grenadies, 2 Psi and 1 Specialist. He does not even use cover and kills everything in 1 round.

Well if there needed to be any other confirmation, this is it as far as psi's and grenadiers being OP.
Does mind control work at 80-100% the moment you get it? I could see how that would be a problem. And grenadiers, well that's an old pet peeve of mine already with the perfect targeting. The damage fall off mod is a good step, although ive yet to try it given early game being hard enough already.

Its refreshing doing these rookie missions now and having to care about heavy cover, distance and actually using hunker down to draw misfire.

 

[ArchAngel]

Still all those missions felt all samey after a while. Lack of UFO missions (both whole and crashed) was felt a lot in the game.

There are UFO missions. They are just rare. I think I have seen two of them before August.

I didn't have a single one or Avenger defense. I even stuck to same place for a while hoping UFO would find me :D
But I seen the UFO landing mission on stream. It is similar to small UFO from Xcom EU but with a timer again lol.

 

[ArchAngel]

This guy http://www.twitch.tv/anzleon play L/I and runs around with 3 grenadies, 2 Psi and 1 Specialist. He does not even use cover and kills everything in 1 round.

Well if there needed to be any other confirmation, this is it as far as psi's and grenadiers being OP.
Does mind control work at 80-100% the moment you get it? I could see how that would be a problem. And grenadiers, well that's an old pet peeve of mine already with the perfect targeting. The damage fall off mod is a good step, although ive yet to try it given early game being hard enough already.

Its refreshing doing these rookie missions now and having to care about heavy cover, distance and actually using hunker down to draw misfire.

Mind control at max level has 90% chance vs top level aliens (Angels, Andromedons and such) and 100% vs everyone else. I think only for Gatekeeper it has less than 90%.
And you don't get mind control, you train it and when you get to train it is random. If you get it early it is probably going to fail a lot, but if you train it a bit later it is going to own.

 

[veevoir]

Still all those missions felt all samey after a while. Lack of UFO missions (both whole and crashed) was felt a lot in the game.

There are UFO missions. They are just rare. I think I have seen two of them before August.

I didn't have a single one or Avenger defense. I even stuck to same place for a while hoping UFO would find me :D
But I seen the UFO landing mission on stream. It is similar to small UFO from Xcom EU but with a timer again lol.

You should be very happy though, as the timer starts only when you break concealment.

 

[ArchAngel]

Still all those missions felt all samey after a while. Lack of UFO missions (both whole and crashed) was felt a lot in the game.

There are UFO missions. They are just rare. I think I have seen two of them before August.

I didn't have a single one or Avenger defense. I even stuck to same place for a while hoping UFO would find me :D
But I seen the UFO landing mission on stream. It is similar to small UFO from Xcom EU but with a timer again lol.

You should be very happy though, as the timer starts only when you break concealment.

Really? Aww, I am so sad I missed it.
I am thinking of starting a new run once some patches arrive (and my new PC is ready) and trying 5 PSI+Specialist run for laughs (it is going to start as 5 grenadiers + 1 Spec and slowly replace Grenadiers with PSI) :D
Hopefully UFO frequency is made bigger with patches.

 

[toro]

Still all those missions felt all samey after a while. Lack of UFO missions (both whole and crashed) was felt a lot in the game.

There are UFO missions. They are just rare. I think I have seen two of them before August.

I didn't have a single one or Avenger defense. I even stuck to same place for a while hoping UFO would find me :D
But I seen the UFO landing mission on stream. It is similar to small UFO from Xcom EU but with a timer again lol.

I had 1 UFO meeting and 1 Avenger defense mission in my last play. Lucky I guess.

 

[Zetor]

This guy http://www.twitch.tv/anzleon play L/I and runs around with 3 grenadies, 2 Psi and 1 Specialist. He does not even use cover and kills everything in 1 round.

Well if there needed to be any other confirmation, this is it as far as psi's and grenadiers being OP.
Does mind control work at 80-100% the moment you get it? I could see how that would be a problem. And grenadiers, well that's an old pet peeve of mine already with the perfect targeting. The damage fall off mod is a good step, although ive yet to try it given early game being hard enough already.

Its refreshing doing these rookie missions now and having to care about heavy cover, distance and actually using hunker down to draw misfire.

When using a tier 2 psi-amp in the late midgame (where psi operatives can realistically come into play), mind control was 60-70% for me against enemies worth capturing (archons, andromedons). By the endgame, my maxed-out psi mage could have an 80-90% chance of MCing a Gatekeeper. This is all on Commander difficulty btw, the odds may be worse on Legend.

Thing is, though, a psi operative doesn't just get mind control; they also get a shitton of armor-ignoring AOE damage, various crowd control abilities, and random bullshit like becoming immune to explosion and fire/acid/poison damage. Random example: the null lance ability hits almost as hard as a plasma blast heavy weapon with a similar AOE... but you get to use it multiple times on a mission, plus it ignores armor.

 

[ArchAngel]

This guy http://www.twitch.tv/anzleon play L/I and runs around with 3 grenadies, 2 Psi and 1 Specialist. He does not even use cover and kills everything in 1 round.

Well if there needed to be any other confirmation, this is it as far as psi's and grenadiers being OP.
Does mind control work at 80-100% the moment you get it? I could see how that would be a problem. And grenadiers, well that's an old pet peeve of mine already with the perfect targeting. The damage fall off mod is a good step, although ive yet to try it given early game being hard enough already.

Its refreshing doing these rookie missions now and having to care about heavy cover, distance and actually using hunker down to draw misfire.

When using a tier 2 psi-amp in the late midgame (where psi operatives can realistically come into play), mind control was 60-70% for me against enemies worth capturing (archons, andromedons). By the endgame, my maxed-out psi mage could have an 80-90% chance of MCing a Gatekeeper. This is all on Commander difficulty btw, the odds may be worse on Legend.

Thing is, though, a psi operative doesn't just get mind control; they also get a shitton of armor-ignoring AOE damage, various crowd control abilities, and random bullshit like becoming immune to explosion and fire/acid/poison damage. Random example: the null lance ability hits almost as hard as a plasma blast heavy weapon with a similar AOE... but you get to use it multiple times on a mission, plus it ignores armor.

Also you can use both Null Lance and Void Rift through solid walls if someone else is spotting enemies
Also there is nothing preventing you from having War Suit on every PSI OPS and having a Blaster Launcher for each

Wraith Suit is only useful for Snipers and shadow rangers, everyone else might as well have a War Suit since you replace a grenade slot with a stronger weapon