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[EnigmaticHat]

I'm playing commander/ironman with no cheats (aside from savescumming one situation for my own mental health).

Spoiler: some descriptions of my progress (click to show/hide)

I've unlocked the forge mission.  I've got plasma rifles researched but not yet invested the money into any but the minigun.  Power armor is researching.  Most of my utility items are proving grounds built or upgraded, I'm coming up on having a few Colonels.  There are only 3 rooms left on the avenger.  I've got 3 continent bonuses.  Also I skipped psi entirely (there was always a more immediate priority).  Avatar project is 3 away from completion but I've got a three dot base ready to be destroyed.

It feels like the lategame.  Haven't lost anyone in a while, most missions the squad barely gets shot at.

[Flying Dice]

So, I just saw a new alien.  No spoilers, no trailers, not in oldcom.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Its the Andromedon.  What a cool enemy!  Its creepy, its brutish, its like a muton+.  My only complaint is that it appeared so late in the campaign that its not greatly threatening.  Although I suppose that's good for balance given how tanky the damn thing is.  Looks cool too, in both its phases.  That acid spewing effect, someone spent a long time making that look right.

From a flavor perspective, the idea of the aliens employing something that can't survive in Earth's atmosphere is interesting.  Why would beings that genetically engineer other races for specific purposes choose not to modify a creature to survive on Earth?  Its also the second time that Tygan has questioned what the larger universe is like and if there are planets filled with alien life.  This being xcom I'm sure these questions will never be examined in any detail.

If you just saw it and say they appear far in the campaign, either you play on very easy cheat mode to storm the strategic element, or you dont really know how long the campaign is. The archon appear like at middle game, muton early middle game. Hell i even had the

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

gatekeeper

before the mission it is first supposed to appear... And god was i in for a suprise when i saw that, hell i prefer sectopods and archon ANYTIME.....

TBH they're not that bad. Same old focus-fire melting, no dodge, and you can psi them.

Also I've only once seen them both shoot and hit, and it was a 4-tile distance flank shot. Mostly they just vortex or reanimate.

[Chiefwaffles]

[Enemy being referred to in spoilers] makes me happy when I see it, because it's super easy to dominate and extremely helpful through the whole mission.

[Darkening Kaos]

  The first three big, white beach-balls I encountered - all before their proper introduction - my grenadier 'executed' from full health, so I never saw what they did and wondered what the fuss was.  Then there was a black facility that needed clearing out to bring down the doom counter - first time I saw it open up to reach out and touch someone..........it got all the bullets next round.  For free, express post.

     A few missions later, my specialist took one out by herself with four consecutive Guardian overwatches.

[EnigmaticHat]

[Enemy being referred to in spoilers] makes me happy when I see it, because it's super easy to dominate and extremely helpful through the whole mission.

I'm just happy the newcom devs have started inventing some new aliens.  I don't count the outsiders; they were basically a filler enemy because putting sectoid commanders on the starship bridges wouldn't have been fair.  Most of the Xcom 2 aliens are re-imaginings of the re-imaginings, but unless I'm missing something big from my xcom lore I think the enemy we've been discussing was invented whole.  Fits with the style too (ironically, probably fits the style of EU and oldcom better than X2's style).

  The first three big, white beach-balls I encountered - all before their proper introduction - my grenadier 'executed' from full health, so I never saw what they did and wondered what the fuss was.  Then there was a black facility that needed clearing out to bring down the doom counter - first time I saw it open up to reach out and touch someone..........it got all the bullets next round.  For free, express post.

     A few missions later, my specialist took one out by herself with four consecutive Guardian overwatches.

Guardian is so kickass.  With threat assessment a specialist can give themselves a free overwatch, and then overwatch normally.  That's two chances for infinitely procing overwatch, one of which can trigger on enemy action.  Batteries extended mag not included.

I really think threat assessment is a no-brainer choice.  I mean, it literally includes a baby version of its alternative.  The only reason to pick covering fire is that it doesn't add 1 to your aid protocol cooldown.  And, fair, that increase is painful. But given how much of an empty level covering fire is it seems best to just bite the bullet and pick threat assessment.

[Darkening Kaos]

     I really want a melee overwatch for the ranger, so that when the next 'lid bolts past and flank-reveals her, she can smack it down before it decides to stop and give her a big ol' hug.

     Also, the GTS ability that grants an extra 3 mobility for the first two turns does not seem to be working for me, anybody else experienced this?

[Lightningfalcon]

     I really want a melee overwatch for the ranger, so that when the next 'lid bolts past and flank-reveals her, she can smack it down before it decides to stop and give her a big ol' hug.

     Also, the GTS ability that grants an extra 3 mobility for the first two turns does not seem to be working for me, anybody else experienced this?

Bladestorm. You want bladestorm.

[Darkening Kaos]

     Well, damn, looks like when she has healed up from the latest mess, she will be re-speccing, as I chose Implacable for her.  Wasn't really focussing on her being a swords-mistress at that time.

     And the GTS ability I was referring to before was called, Lightning Strike.

[EnigmaticHat]

Doesn't bladestorm cause the ranger to leave cover?

[Majestic7]

The few times it has triggered to me, there has been no change to cover status.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Me, being the slow (and highly unsuccessful, I might add) player that I am, am just tackling the first blacksite. Not the first playthrough, but the first ended up being so rife with bad decisions that I had no way of recovering. I was three pips away from armageddon by the time the second retaliation attack landed, that's gotta be some kind of record.

This time I'm doing a little better, seeing as I'm actually attacking the damn blacksite instead of loitering around it collecting sidequest loot and waiting for better gear to crop up. I have mag weapons researched, but there weren't any alloys around to build some for the crew. The five-man band (which is 40% women) consists of two squaddies - a Sharpshooter and a Grenadier - and three callsign-wearing Corporals, who are a Ranger, a Specialist, and another Grenadier because I figured I might as well pack extra grenades. Between them all they have two flashbangs (one on each grenadier), one set of AP rounds (given to the Sharpshooter in expectation of having to knock out turrets), and some misc low-level weapon upgrades.

So far, it seems like the team might actually pull through without any fatalities. I savescummed once, where a streak of particularly bad luck coupled with a few of my signature 3-AM-brainpower tactical decisions resulted in a complete squad wipe, so it's actually my second run through this mission, and this time I'm not taking chances with taking control of turrets. I gave that sniper AP rounds for a reason, dammit.

Of course, the Ranger ended up quickly eating one of them shock lances with his face, so now the squaddie grenadier is having to lug his unconscious ass around, but otherwise everybody's health is at reasonable levels and aside from that early encounter with a few shock lancers and a Viper, most of the mission was relatively under control. I'm actually starting to get the hang of the new tactical combat options.

[teoleo]

today i can't load the saved mission.....crash and crash....  :O((

[Cptn Kaladin Anrizlokum]

Doesn't bladestorm cause the ranger to leave cover?

It shouldn't, unless they destroy their own cover.
It does break the animations when a soldier gets wrapped by a viper and kills it with the blade storm though. They just get stuck looking wrapped.

Not that I had blade storm or anything, just something I saw from my brother playing. He thought his character turned psionic because he stopped firing his gun to kill things.

[Majestic7]

The collateral damage caused by blades is annoying. On one memorable case, I used a ranger to go and slash a Viper wrapped around another dude. The slash killed the snake and made the car next to it blow up, killing both of my guys.

Beautiful job, kamakrazee. Witnessed.

[Skyrunner]

Just fire a sniper rifle like a pistol

Also those are the base tier rifles and they are firing plasma bolts