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

JDR13

Arcane
Joined
Nov 2, 2006
Messages
3,930
Location
The Swamp
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

Arcane
Joined
Nov 1, 2017
Messages
20,294
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.
 

mastroego

Arcane
Joined
Apr 10, 2013
Messages
10,250
Location
Italy
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.
 

mastroego

Arcane
Joined
Apr 10, 2013
Messages
10,250
Location
Italy
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

Arcane
Joined
Mar 23, 2015
Messages
17,432
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

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jan 15, 2015
Messages
4,733
Location
HUEland
PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015
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.

7AFF34FD91A7A3BEB53320F24A1C462ADFE27B6E

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:

D20D05976C82CF5D70499645AEBFE9943B3B6189


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...

042EAFE63058C6A99F07470FC65C601D212E397F


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:

57CB6B60EFC98916B5101BBF63EDDE2A2A6A9610

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

4C82A3C72ABCD6D6A3472FA00BB402B017345F2B

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

A45314968A26D10CE0706466F5C83DF67D5E94D0

Aliens and ADVENT can also be turned into cocoons. :positive:

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

Arcane
Joined
Apr 10, 2013
Messages
10,250
Location
Italy
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

Arcane
Joined
Mar 23, 2015
Messages
17,432
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

Arcane
Patron
Joined
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Messages
4,733
Location
HUEland
PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015
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

Arcane
Joined
Apr 10, 2013
Messages
10,250
Location
Italy
I actually don't dislike the Lost. In fact, I added to my list a mod that adds models variety and stuff, IIRC.
 

Angelo85

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Apr 4, 2010
Messages
1,569
Location
Deutschland
XCOM 2’s multiplayer will be shut down this month

XCOM 2’s multiplayer will be shut down this month
xcom-2-multiplayer-shut-down-date-580x334.jpg



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
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
50,754
Codex Year of the Donut
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

Magister
Joined
Oct 21, 2019
Messages
4,491
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

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jan 24, 2007
Messages
8,004
Codex 2012 Codex 2013 Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
Why shut down only the Windows version? It's still going to work on Linux, Mac, and consoles.
 

KeighnMcDeath

RPG Codex Boomer
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
12,869
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?
 

Ironmonk

Augur
Joined
Sep 29, 2014
Messages
463
Location
Mordor
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

Arcane
Joined
Mar 23, 2015
Messages
17,432
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

Retro-Fascist
Patron
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
17,046
Location
Mars
Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Codex Year of the Donut Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
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

RPG Codex Boomer
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
12,869
I've been watching a lot of xfiles on COMET TV lately so Bureau really interests me.
 

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