Xcom: Enemy unknown discussion

Xcom is diffidently designed for a controller but its not as bad as some other games out there, only I really wish the would have put in the game is a menu on one of the sides of the screen with all your solder's face and name for quick selection.
 
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So you can click on portraits instead of using TAB or F-keys or clicking on the character? Yea, would be nice I guess. Maybe modders can add it.

Anyways, I'm still enjoying the game, got to Psi testing phase and am really confused why the Steam preload took 12+Gb of my hard drive, haven't seen much so different stuff in the game that would need that much space. Am I missing something?
 
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I just want y'all to know that me and my XP rig hate you. That is all. ;)
 
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Hhahuahahaaa
Maybe someone makes win7 emulator for XP? :p
 
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I just want y'all to know that me and my XP rig hate you. That is all. ;)

My win7 rig was in stock 3 weeks ago. Wtf is it now? :/ I guess it's time to make some noise.

EDIT: Apparently republicans paranoid of anything made in China are involved, despite shipping the jobs there for their own personal gain. Oh the irony....
 
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Guys I need a spoiler. In fact it's more of "gimme an advice" question.

Testing soldiers resulted in 3 psi talented ones. Should I activate the "ultimate device" now, or recruit some more folks till I have the whole squad of 6 psi soldiers?

And what an irony, one psi is "heavy", two are "support". How come no unit with doubledamage against robots is psi talented? These antirobot soldiers are the core of my squad, and I guess you know why. Yea, I guess if one was psi, that would be a pure overkill.
 
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I just want y'all to know that me and my XP rig hate you. That is all. ;)

If you got a legit copy (as I'm sure you have) there is a quick workaround involving a hexedit on the main exe. I think there's a thread on the steam forums.
 
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Short mis-reading, happened a few seconds ago :

"Enemy : Unknown Disease"
 
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Should I activate the "ultimate device" now, or recruit some more folks till I have the whole squad of 6 psi soldiers?
Go for it now as there is no real advantage to waiting unless you want to buy some better equipment. Waiting increases likelihood of losing more countries (depending on level) and only one gets to activate the device and get the advantage for the end game.
 
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While the game is fun (and that is a big plus!), it hasn't quite lived up to my expectations. Mind you, I'm only about 10 hours in on Normal (saving Classic for a second run), but these are my gripes at the moment - concentrating on the tactical side of the game, leaving the strategic side (base-building etc.) out.

- Action System: I quess I should be glad they went with turn-based combat at all, but the new two action system feels half-finished. I'm okay with the simplification of the original Time Unit/Action Point system (would have preferred it, though), as it must have been too complicated to the current trends in gaming. However, I don't get it why it needs to be so clunky. Why, for example, does firing a weapon (perks not withstanding) end the soldier's turn even if he had a second action left? You can move and then fire, but you can't fire and then move. Not good. While you can use both of your two actions on movement, you can't use them both on firing (without perks). Not good. Also, reloading a weapon ends your soldier's turn for some reason, regardless of actions, so you better move and then reload, because if you try to reload and move, you can't. The whole thing feels artificially constrained and unsatisfactory to me. (Speaking of reloading, why does the reload action sometimes only partially reload the weapon? Is it a bug? And why must we have an ammo bar? Are numbers too difficult?!)

- Inventory: A huge let down. Soldiers are very limited in what they can carry and what weapons they can use. You have four slots: main weapon, secondary weapon, armor, and "extra stuff". Only the assault soldier has any choice in weapons before the upgrade to beam weapons, the others are locked with their "class weapons". The "extra stuff" slot comprises anything from a grenade (yes, A grenade, you only get one unless you buy a class perk later) via a scope on your weapon to extra armor. How these all fit in the same slot is beyond me. I mean, extra armor and a scope sharing the same slot with grenades, medkits and arc-throwers (sp?), what the hell? If that isn't gamey, I don't know what is. Feels like Final Fantasy or something with its accessory slot.

- Soldier Stats and Class: I would have hoped more stats on the soldiers and more variation (even a little) between them. I would really have hoped to choose what class a soldier is going to be myself and not submit to a computer lottery. I would have hoped less limiting classes altogether (as they are pretty much straight-jackets now), but no luck. Oh well, can't always get what you want…

- Map size: While the maps are pretty nice, they are small. Disappointingly small. Were the consoles this big of a limiting factor here? But the graphics aren't that "heavy". At least they don't look so "heavy" (detailed etc.) as to eat up all the memory in the consoles.

- Voice Acting: I would have wanted at least faux accents on the soldiers. Now, it doesn't matter if he's from Germany, Japan or even the UK, he'll speak like a true Yank. At least to my ears, all the voices are basically the same with the same accent. Didn't Firaxis have the money or the inclination to do some impressions of nationality at least?

- Line of Sight Issues (probably bugged and fixed later), Wonky Camera, Clucky Interface, etc.

Whoa, what a wall of text. Sorry.

The game is nice, nevermind my griping. It's OK, it's fun, but it isn't what I hoped it would have been. Xenonauts, I'm waiting for ye!
 
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Go for it now as there is no real advantage to waiting unless you want to buy some better equipment. Waiting increases likelihood of losing more countries (depending on level) and only one gets to activate the device and get the advantage for the end game.

I don't think I can lose more countries... I lost 4 in the beginning because I istributed sattelites poorly - I've concentrated on countries that bring big bucks instead of calmin down ones that were just about to leave. ;)
But after I covered all that remained with sattelites and interceptors, plus no skipping on missions noone panicked a lot. No matter, I'll be smarter in the replay.
Okay, if one psi is enough, I'll go for it. Thanks! ;)

Action System:...
Actually when you see all perks you'll get, you won't be that frustrated with the system. Also reloading won't be a problem later. Not only that, but remember that pistols ain't useless really, especially when you want to capture an alien instead of killing it. ;)

Inventory:...
Again you want to make "superstars of wrestling" at the game start. Instead of making jacks of all trades you need to chose. Medkit, scope, arc or grenade. The choice is really simple, put a medkit on at least two soldiers, arc on at least one, scopes on the rest. Why no grenades? Because they suck till later when you get alien grenades. And also later some of your soldiers (supports) will be able to carry 2 items!

- Soldier Stats and Class:
Yes it's a lottery, but you can always recruit more soldiers. A hint: ditch those with low will and replace with high will if possible as early as you can. High will prevents soldiers from panicking and later will prove even more useful.
And assuming you're playing it on normal like I do, you really don't need many soldiers at all so go for quality.

- Map size:
On this I agree. There is a couple of bigger maps later but the size of "regular" maps is too small.

- Voice Acting:
And I thought it's pretty good. :)

Line of Sight Issues (probably bugged and fixed later), Wonky Camera, Clucky Interface, etc.
Let's say those are standard annoyances, but are they really a huge fail that need fixing ASAP as Skyrim bugs? Nah.

Whoa, what a wall of text. Sorry.
I've enjoyed reading it. And am not alone. So no need to be sorry. ;)
 
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XCOM : Unknown Economy , my latest misreading.
 
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Actually when you see all perks you'll get, you won't be that frustrated with the system. Also reloading won't be a problem later. Not only that, but remember that pistols ain't useless really, especially when you want to capture an alien instead of killing it. ;)
Yes, I'm aware of the perks that e.g. grant an ability to fire twice with your two actions (or even twice with one action at reduced accuracy) etc., but my problem is with the underlying rules, the design of the action system. If I'm given two action points, I'd really like them to be of the same value, so to speak. That is, I wish I could use them interchangeably to move or fire or what have you. It ought to be 1 AP to fire whether you've moved or not. As it is in the game (disregarding perks), firing after moving will effectively cost 1 AP, but just standing still and firing costs 2 AP. I don't like that system, that's all.

I think they designed the system this way, i.e. so that firing ends your soldier's turn (usually), because they didn't want to have soldiers firing and then retreating to a safer location - which would have been possible with a freer action system. This, I suppose, was to up the tension and simplify the game mechanics even further.

Again you want to make "superstars of wrestling" at the game start. Instead of making jacks of all trades you need to chose. Medkit, scope, arc or grenade. The choice is really simple, put a medkit on at least two soldiers, arc on at least one, scopes on the rest. Why no grenades? Because they suck till later when you get alien grenades. And also later some of your soldiers (supports) will be able to carry 2 items!
Again, I'm objecting to the design of this system, which is gamey, IMO. I could very well accept the restriction of one carried extra item type (grenade, medkit or arc), but not that having one extra item removes my ability to mount scopes on weapons or wear an extra layer of armor under the main armor vest. This just reeks of heavy streamlining to me.

I'm not wanting to have supersoldiers from the get go, you see, I'm just wanting to have some common sense in their equipping. I think it's more than a bit silly that your soldiers can only carry one grenade each - and with a perk, two (Whoa! Now don't break your back, buddy!). And smoke grenades? Sorry, they are a special ability (perk) only. :( Grenades already destroy vital resources if you use them, that ought to be enough to restrain their use, not some silly one grenade restriction. To clarify, I would have no problem with my soldiers being restricted in their skills (due to inexperience in alien warfare etc.), but to be so very restricted and limited in their equipment and inventory is a big negative to me.

Yes it's a lottery, but you can always recruit more soldiers. A hint: ditch those with low will and replace with high will if possible as early as you can. High will prevents soldiers from panicking and later will prove even more useful.
And assuming you're playing it on normal like I do, you really don't need many soldiers at all so go for quality.

But if I could see their class right from the beginning this wouldn't be such a bad thing, but you only get the class once the soldier levels up the first time. So, you have to take a rookie to the field, make him get a kill or two, bring him back alive and then hope the lottery goes your way. If not, repeat and rinse and hope you get better luck next time (hoping for a certain class, you've got 25% chance to get it, hope you're lucky). Why this system? I cannot understand. What harm or extra difficulty would there have been to let the player choose the class? I sure can't see one. In fact it would have been a great reward for getting a rookie though his baptism of fire, to now get to choose his class and first perk.

In my last game I decided to get a rookie on a mission with some veterans. The missions are becoming pretty dangerous (game itself rating them Very Difficult), so the risk for them is quite great. Having lost two rookies in previous missions (not on the same one), I was pretty glad when I got him back home with a kill under his belt. Now the lottery… and I get a sniper. Great, I already have two experienced ones and really, really don't want a third. OK, thanks for your efforts former rookie, you can pack your bags, g'bye. Really frustrating. Any other class would have been OK (even a heavy, although I already have two experienced ones of those too). Needless hassle, IMO.

And another wall of text. ;)
 
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How big is your total set of soldiers (i.e. how many can you have)? The lottery worked well in the orignal game becasue the population was large enough to reduce the chance of getting a poorly balanced and "unoptimal" set of solders if you were smart about picking and attrition. A small population set will increase the chances dramatically of getting stuck with an outlier unbalanced population of soldiers. Basic statistics that should be considered when designing this kind of game.
 
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You CAN have up to 99 soliders but I never got near that number. Honestly, I barely paid attention to stats.

Regarding the voice acting - there's a big list of actors for several regions of the world. I really wish they would have crossed those actors over more. Do all the sodiers sound Russian in Russia and French in France?
 
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So the largest squad you can have for any given mission is only six soldiers? That seems disappointingly small to me. What was the max squad size in the original series?

Also, could it be possible to lose too many veterans late in the game and be unable to advance further due to mission difficulty?
 
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Also, could it be possible to lose too many veterans late in the game and be unable to advance further due to mission difficulty?

Oh hell yeah especially on higher difficulties. One lesson learned is to always bring at least one rookie along to train and leave one or more veterans back so you are not screwed if the transport comes back empty. There is a Officer School promotion that helps out in bringing up rookies so they already have a class assigned on being recruited.
 
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… Took a short look at it today. It was shown in a tiny booth on the board games/role-playing games/comics fair I had visited today.
All with XBOX & controllers.

I liked the gameplay. Vaguely reminded me of Jagged Alliance.
 
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Ran into a nasty bug today. My save games suddenly started vanishing! It turns out they are still there and sometimes they show up somewhere down lower on the save game list. If I quit the game then load from the main menu, the latest save pops right to the top.

This started happening right around when I got to save file 100. It could have been a coincidence but....
 
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