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Earlier some people were talking about a Psionics rush? Has anyone actually done it because it feels less like a rush and more like a sauntering.
Tech patch is Chip(cant do autopsy without it) > Sectoid autopsy (needs 1 scientist so you need to wait on the mission to get one) > Psionics (needs 10 elerium so your hoping for a mission to reward some or the blackmarket to pop up) > and then build and train.
It was 6th april before I got the elerium and without buying the boost from the blackmarket it wasn't until the 21e that I actually finished the research.
I had Magnetic rifles and almost finished Predator Armor before I could even take my first Psi on a mission.
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Battle scanners are kind of iffy to me when you want to check if you will have LOS, since it doesn't really show the LOS indicator on your opponent's nameplates, so you will have to count tiles.. Phantom ranger's scouting never miss tho.
Gorsameth, don't you get elerium in the first black site mission ? I haven't finished my legendary run yet (damn real life), but that's what i plan to do next and i will check out tech trees and resources to plan it ahead. I think it's fairly doable.
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Has anyone finished a Legendary Ironman campaign yet? I keep getting smashed on the macro map
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On February 09 2016 08:29 SagaZ wrote:
Has anyone finished a Legendary Ironman campaign yet? I keep getting smashed on the macro map
I am already on plasma tech, and just researching making time to see everything, basically i am at a point where i can finish the game whenever i want. What's your problem in the macro map ?
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On February 09 2016 08:22 Godwrath wrote:
Battle scanners are kind of iffy to me when you want to check if you will have LOS, since it doesn't really show the LOS indicator on your opponent's nameplates, so you will have to count tiles.. Phantom ranger's scouting never miss tho.
Gorsameth, don't you get elerium in the first black site mission ? I haven't finished my legendary run yet (damn real life), but that's what i plan to do next and i will check out tech trees and resources to plan it ahead. I think it's fairly doable.
Nope I was hoping it would aswell but the black site does not give Elerium or Alien alloys.
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On February 09 2016 08:17 Gorsameth wrote:
Earlier some people were talking about a Psionics rush? Has anyone actually done it because it feels less like a rush and more like a sauntering.
Tech patch is Chip(cant do autopsy without it) > Sectoid autopsy (needs 1 scientist so you need to wait on the mission to get one) > Psionics (needs 10 elerium so your hoping for a mission to reward some or the blackmarket to pop up) > and then build and train.
It was 6th april before I got the elerium and without buying the boost from the blackmarket it wasn't until the 21e that I actually finished the research.
I had Magnetic rifles and almost finished Predator Armor before I could even take my first Psi on a mission.
Well that's the thing. The earlier you get the psi labs running, the earlier you get some utterly game changing troops especially for the mid game. I mean, you could have Null Lance by the time you meet your first dangerous mechanized units. One Lance has the potential to one shot most of them. And the sooner you get Void Rift + Insanity + upgrade for Insanity, the sooner you have a 6 turn reusable grenade that pierces armor and kills 10 hp or lower targets and has disorient/panic/mind controls the survivors.
Early game would be much tougher no doubt, since you delay the easier way techs, mag weaps and first armor.
Haven't had a chance to try that properly yet, in this current game I'll go mag weapons -> psi. That rush worked super well in the Long War, want to try if it still does as psionics are even more awesome in XCOM2 than LW.
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On February 09 2016 08:34 daemir wrote:Show nested quote +On February 09 2016 08:17 Gorsameth wrote:
Earlier some people were talking about a Psionics rush? Has anyone actually done it because it feels less like a rush and more like a sauntering.
Tech patch is Chip(cant do autopsy without it) > Sectoid autopsy (needs 1 scientist so you need to wait on the mission to get one) > Psionics (needs 10 elerium so your hoping for a mission to reward some or the blackmarket to pop up) > and then build and train.
It was 6th april before I got the elerium and without buying the boost from the blackmarket it wasn't until the 21e that I actually finished the research.
I had Magnetic rifles and almost finished Predator Armor before I could even take my first Psi on a mission. Well that's the thing. The earlier you get the psi labs running, the earlier you get some utterly game changing troops especially for the mid game. I mean, you could have Null Lance by the time you meet your first dangerous mechanized units. One Lance has the potential to one shot most of them. And the sooner you get Void Rift + Insanity + upgrade for Insanity, the sooner you have a 6 turn reusable grenade that pierces armor and kills 10 hp or lower targets and has disorient/panic/mind controls the survivors. Early game would be much tougher no doubt, since you delay the easier way techs, mag weaps and first armor. Haven't had a chance to try that properly yet, in this current game I'll go mag weapons -> psi. That rush worked super well in the Long War, want to try if it still does as psionics are even more awesome in XCOM2 than LW.
Oh i'm not denying early psionics is not very powerful. I was just remarking on the major hurdles in the way of a true rush and wondering if there was something I missed.
I wouldn't worry to much about the delay in early game tech since as I mentioned you spend a lot of time waiting anyway.
Getting a sectoid autopsy done is very quick and after that your just waiting on a supply mission / blackmarket anyway.
Edit:
And power is bugged? Build a power plant and the power conduit upgrade says it will give 9 power for 80 supply but only gives 2...
Even if you add in the extra engineer it would be 7, not 9 power.
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On February 09 2016 08:31 Godwrath wrote:Show nested quote +On February 09 2016 08:29 SagaZ wrote:
Has anyone finished a Legendary Ironman campaign yet? I keep getting smashed on the macro map I am already on plasma tech, and just researching making time to see everything, basically i am at a point where i can finish the game whenever i want. What's your problem in the macro map ?
Avatar project completing too fast basically, as well as my weapon/armor production being too slow. Last run lasted till the second terror mission, I had advanced armor but no weapons, that muton destroyed me. Avatar facility was on the other side of the world and I couldn't stop the major breaktrough dark event (another muton on the destroy the relay mission)
Should I just be dropping everything early game to make contact with other regions?
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Guys, where should I go from predator armor/gauss weapon tech? Plasma? Psi tech? I just did 3rd terror mission (berzerkers) and unlocked codec brain + black vial in the shadow chamber. I'm gonna finish this stupid guerilla ops site and then bust down the door on the 3rd black site. A UFO is hunting me but I'm dodging it like a pro.
Also, I'm losing more and more faith in my sharpshooters. Where the scouting ranger leads, the specialist with double overwatch follows, and the 2 heavies are in tow with massive amounts of grenades with the grenade crit perks and more grenade damage. And the snipers? Well, on the first pod they do fine, 70-80 hit chance for solid 7 damage, but after that they just lag behind heavily. If they follow the rest of the squad, they can't shoot their sniper rifles, if they stay behind their aim drops to 30-50 which at that point I'd rather have an extra ranger and or specialist.
Do they get perks that allow them to shoot their sniper rifles after moving later down the tree? I like to move through the maps quickly and efficiently flanking and destroying cover in the process. Snipers are just too slow for my playstyle.
Also: with my playstyle I do not have any problems with timed missions, I don't like to overwatch crawl.
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Keeping ahead on weapon tech is a way to make the game easier for you, but psionics are very strong and require a long time to get running, so the earlier you get to it, the better. Game can surely be done without psi, but there is some utility in them that you cannot replicate with other tech.
If you have the intel early game then connecting as many territories as you can is helpful, the sooner you get areas, the larger your total accumulated supply is going to be from gathering the monthly drops and supply is a big limiter especially early game. The game I just started I beelined for mag weapons immediately, but halted that research as soon as the radio tech was made available, then continued mag afterwards.
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Canada8031 Posts
On February 09 2016 09:28 Latham wrote:
Guys, where should I go from predator armor/gauss weapon tech? Plasma? Psi tech? I just did 3rd terror mission (berzerkers) and unlocked codec brain + black vial in the shadow chamber. I'm gonna finish this stupid guerilla ops site and then bust down the door on the 3rd black site. A UFO is hunting me but I'm dodging it like a pro.
Also, I'm losing more and more faith in my sharpshooters. Where the scouting ranger leads, the specialist with double overwatch follows, and the 2 heavies are in tow with massive amounts of grenades with the grenade crit perks and more grenade damage. And the snipers? Well, on the first pod they do fine, 70-80 hit chance for solid 7 damage, but after that they just lag behind heavily. If they follow the rest of the squad, they can't shoot their sniper rifles, if they stay behind their aim drops to 30-50 which at that point I'd rather have an extra ranger and or specialist.
Do they get perks that allow them to shoot their sniper rifles after moving later down the tree? I like to move through the maps quickly and efficiently flanking and destroying cover in the process. Snipers are just too slow for my playstyle.
Also: with my playstyle I do not have any problems with timed missions, I don't like to overwatch crawl.
Are you building snipers or gunslingers? The two play very differently. Snipers set up shop a decent distance away. Gunslingers are more in the thick of things.
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If you're utilizing squad sight then you really need them high up for the accuracy bonus. A lot of missions don't have a high ground position you can put a sniper on though so they do seem relatively weak.
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On February 09 2016 10:25 Blitzkrieg0 wrote:
If you're utilizing squad sight then you really need them high up for the accuracy bonus. A lot of missions don't have a high ground position you can put a sniper on though so they do seem relatively weak.
Exactly this, I fear. I have 2 sharpshooters going down the left "sniper" tree, and 1 gunslinger. Currently, on missions I take:
2 grenadiers, 2 sharpshooters (the gunslinger is core, the "snipers" rotate in and out between the 2 of them), 1 scout ranger, 1 specialist (again, I rotate between a hacker and a medic so both can level up a bit).
When I play the snipers I do go for long squadsight overwatches but a lot of maps don't provide high ground at all which kind of kills them for me.
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I don't think you 'need' high ground at all. On my first playthrough my sniper was the absolute MVP.
Sure these aren't Xcom 1 maps where my sniper would sometimes not move for the entire mission but there is still plenty of room for them.
Just don't leave them hanging all the way back all the time. When you clear out a pod and regroup, run your sniper back up with the rest and move to the next pod.
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On February 09 2016 09:19 SagaZ wrote:Show nested quote +On February 09 2016 08:31 Godwrath wrote:On February 09 2016 08:29 SagaZ wrote:
Has anyone finished a Legendary Ironman campaign yet? I keep getting smashed on the macro map I am already on plasma tech, and just researching making time to see everything, basically i am at a point where i can finish the game whenever i want. What's your problem in the macro map ? Avatar project completing too fast basically, as well as my weapon/armor production being too slow. Last run lasted till the second terror mission, I had advanced armor but no weapons, that muton destroyed me. Avatar facility was on the other side of the world and I couldn't stop the major breaktrough dark event (another muton on the destroy the relay mission) Should I just be dropping everything early game to make contact with other regions?
You won't get better weapons before the second terror if i recall right. Your top priority is to get 5 squad. Always have one soldier getting consistently 3 kills per mission (no more ideally, because there is a cap). It shouldn't take you very long to reach it. `Then you want captain, but that will take quite a long time 
About the avatar project. It doesn't matter if it completes. When it finish you will see a timer, then you let the timer run and a few days before the clock is about to finish, you do the first black site, avatar progress will be lost. And rinse and repeat. You can't spend too much intel in stuff because you want to be able to expand to reach facilities, but if you screwed up and you can't get to unlock one facility in time (remember, there are items that you can research for it) because of not having enough intel or you are in the cap of conected regions and you need to build comms, you can always do one of the objectives of the main mission. It will also lower the avatar progress.
Early game
Start with
x2 flashbangs (because they are goddamn useful early game)
Guerrila building
Then build this right away, power relay if needed.
AWC
Proving grounds
Tech
Weapon to be able to mod your weapons
Autopsies until you have access to battlescanner and mimic beacon , so advent officer, advent trooper, faceless (faceless autopsy lines up pretty well), they will help you to survive.
Resistance comms (before faceless i think)
Then you go magnetics. You get pistol, rifle and shotgun, 3/4 classes if you play gunslinger, good enough. If you don't, you should anyways play with lightning hands and at that point, have proving grounds ready and build experimental ammo, that will make your mag pistol do 4-5 damage.
Mutton autopsy for improved grenade launchers and alien grenades.
Now you can go for gauss.
Predator armor
Priorities with the avenger early game
Engineers --- 3 scientists --- Intel - Supplies
Why intel above supplies ? Because intel allows you to unlock regions and that means more supplies in the long run, and being able to unlock those black sites is useful. Not to mention being able to pick those pesky scopes or perception improvements, or just something you need right away.
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Wow, you can actually let it complete and it doesn't have too many concequences? I'm actually stunned. Keep in mind I didn't read anything on it and never got that far so the next part from me is pure speculation.
I thought "The Avatar Project" would be something akin to Mass Effect 2 where they make a huge robot out of hoomans (Or maybe make those powerful alien leaders inhabit a super-human perfect body) they abducted and when it reaches the full bar, The Avatar launches at you from the place in the sea and forces you into the last mission :O!
I was shitting myself when it was 4 from completion and went on a "fuck your black sites" killing spree.
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On February 09 2016 10:25 Blitzkrieg0 wrote:
If you're utilizing squad sight then you really need them high up for the accuracy bonus. A lot of missions don't have a high ground position you can put a sniper on though so they do seem relatively weak.
Just to put things into perpsective. Reactive shots are 0.7 of your aim if they are not dashing. You need 133 aim to be able to have a 100% with killzone overwatches, and 114 if you are on high ground. And this doesn't take into account squadsight penalties, that is a *aim penalty too.
If i were to build a sniper, AP rounds would be a must because of killzone (serial is great, and i don't know about other difficulties, but getting to the last rank on legendary takes forever so kill zone will be your primary source of high damage), so you are left with scope and PCS to raise your aim. Steady aim also helps with it, and Aim from the gunslinger perk if you manage to score kills to hunker down with death from above every turn, but that's situational at best. Get a spider suit btw, grapple doesn't cost an action.
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Finished this game on normal difficulty ironman in around 22 hours.
One observation that I had: Psi Ops are absurdly overpowered for a couple of reasons.
1. Permanent mind control of 1 unit per mission
With this ability you can permanently mind control a Gatekeeper and use it as a extremely powerful meat shield/zombie spawner. Completely bonkers.
2. Stasis
Pretty much a guaranteed stun ability, if you use this after all your soldiers have fired on the target (I found myself using it very often on the super-heavy units to delay them a turn so they didnt wreck my face)
3. Mind Void (is that what its called?)
This ability combined with the perk that ruptures enemies you mind-fuck not only 1shots half the fodder bio units (mutons, sectoids, vipers), but if they dont die from the initial damage they get disoriented/stunned
4. Inspire is also super good; lets you save your compromised units
The other ability (void lance?) is super strong as well
Having a Psi Op on every single mission made it a cakewalk on normal.
Speaking of hard....
Playing hard on ironman was the most disgusting experience I've ever had; Half the time I couldnt get past the first mission without at least half my troops getting one-shotted. The other half was my troops getting oneshotted on the second or third mission I did.
The timed missions also became nigh impossible since you have to rush the objective and yet contend with random troops getting one-shot all day.
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I do wonder whether the higher difficulties can be done in ironman without ridiculous luck. Just had my best specialist oneshot by a sectoid who I had disoriented. My guy was in high cover, but when I hit the sectoid with a flashbang, the bastard walked away from my troops and casually sniped the specialist from half way across the map. That can happen a few times, and you can still replace your soldiers. But it seems quite frequent. Did I just get a bad luck streak or is the game designed with way more attrition?
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On February 09 2016 11:58 Ghanburighan wrote:
I do wonder whether the higher difficulties can be done in ironman without ridiculous luck. Just had my best specialist oneshot by a sectoid who I had disoriented. My guy was in high cover, but when I hit the sectoid with a flashbang, the bastard walked away from my troops and casually sniped the specialist from half way across the map. That can happen a few times, and you can still replace your soldiers. But it seems quite frequent. Did I just get a bad luck streak or is the game designed with way more attrition?
Soldiers virtually never die in one hit. HP growth is pretty significant even without taking armor into account so if you keep your frontliners topped up with medikits whenever they take damage, you'd have to get very unlucky with a crit or multiple hits in one turn or something to actually lose a guy.
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EPT
