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[Mephansteras]

I'm a bit upset with myself. I was having a bad run, with several Total Team wipes in a row. Down to nothing but new Squaddies (no Rookies thanks to the OTS). And I got fed up and quit. Just deleted the save. (Ironman)

So of course, this morning I'm thinking I could have salvaged it. Sure, the fights were getting tougher and all my good soldiers were dead. But I'd just unlocked the Psi Testing Chamber. Once that was built I could start throwing some Psi users at the fights, which should even up the odds. I might still lose, but it's not like hope was lost at that point. I only had 2 nations gone and didn't actually have too many in danger of leaving yet, so it was all salvageable.

*sigh*

Also, while in general I like Damage Roulette it can make things very frustrating sometimes. Two rockets on a pack of thin men. Two! And they didn't die.

That...that was frustrating. Both heavies got killed because of that, since I fired the rockets instead of moving them. But, come on, 1 rocket should have done it! How on earth those rockets did so little damage is beyond me.

[Neonivek]

This is where SHIVs start to become especially helpful. Sure they are not as good as your elite soldiers (We estimated once that Soldiers start to out perform Shivs at about Captain), but they are better then squaddies.

Especially helpful is the fact that they have aim and heavy damage.

[krisslanza]

This is where SHIVs start to become especially helpful. Sure they are not as good as your elite soldiers (We estimated once that Soldiers start to out perform Shivs at about Captain), but they are better then squaddies.

Especially helpful is the fact that they have aim and heavy damage.

It's also helpful that they're really easy to replace.

[MorleyDev]

It's also helpful that they're really easy to replace.

The SHIV or the Rookies?

What am I saying, of course it's the Rookies.

[Mephansteras]

I'd use SHIV's more, but I keep hearing reports about how bugged they are.

[Sonlirain]

So, my brother raises an interesting point:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

At the end of the game, the Ethereal talks about something coming. The "Ethereal Ones" have been cast out, and are twisting other races to fight whatever's coming behind them. We seem to have come to the same conclusion: The ethereals are actually Eldar, and what's coming are the Tyranids.

I'd rather expect R'leth themed monsters complete with TftD expy aliens.

[Neonivek]

Actually if the story is similar to the original (and they change quite a few things, mostly flavor but some others) then the "Thing to come" will likely be the threat of Xcom Apocolips.

Biotech aliens

Or possibly... The Deep.

[GlyphGryph]

Personally, I'd like to see something new - see what they can churn out when they flex their creative design muscles.

[umiman]

It'd be pretty amusing if people took the Ethereal warning seriously and started preparing really hard. But after a few decades nothing happens and no one sees any other aliens. Then further analysis of the Ethereal data reveals that the entire concept of "things to come" is just the Ethereal religion they created way back when and followed till this day. So there wasn't actually any threat other than some old beliefs they held and humanity (and Ethereals for that matter) were fine all along and were were just being threatened by the equivalent of a foreign missionary's sayings.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And then when everyone accepts this, giant space tentacles burst out of warp space and burn everything and the Ethereals go "WE TOLD YOU SO WE TOLD YOU SOO TBBBPPPTTHHHHH!!!!"

[Neonivek]

It'd be pretty amusing if people took the Ethereal warning seriously and started preparing really hard. But after a few decades nothing happens and no one sees any other aliens. Then further analysis of the Ethereal data reveals that the entire concept of "things to come" is just the Ethereal religion they created way back when and followed till this day. So there wasn't actually any threat other than some old beliefs they held and humanity (and Ethereals for that matter) were fine all along and were were just being threatened by the equivalent of a foreign missionary's sayings.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And then when everyone accepts this, giant space tentacles burst out of warp space and burn everything and the Ethereals go "WE TOLD YOU SO WE TOLD YOU SOO TBBBPPPTTHHHHH!!!!"

To my knowledge storywise they did. The problem is that the Alien materials and Elerium could not be replicated, or at least in high quantities, by human technology and soon many of the new devices that Xcom developed fell appart from disrepair and a lack of power.

Well so much that humanity realised the threat of another alien attack but lacked the resources to build back their offense.

[Anvilfolk]

It'd be pretty amusing if people took the Ethereal warning seriously and started preparing really hard. But after a few decades nothing happens and no one sees any other aliens. Then further analysis of the Ethereal data reveals that the entire concept of "things to come" is just the Ethereal religion they created way back when and followed till this day. So there wasn't actually any threat other than some old beliefs they held and humanity (and Ethereals for that matter) were fine all along and were were just being threatened by the equivalent of a foreign missionary's sayings.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And then when everyone accepts this, giant space tentacles burst out of warp space and burn everything and the Ethereals go "WE TOLD YOU SO WE TOLD YOU SOO TBBBPPPTTHHHHH!!!!"

Sounds like Battlestar Galactica - and if there's one thing I learnt about BSG is that it's awesome. Which is to say it could work as a storyline.

[Thexor]

It'd be pretty amusing if people took the Ethereal warning seriously and started preparing really hard. But after a few decades nothing happens and no one sees any other aliens. Then further analysis of the Ethereal data reveals that the entire concept of "things to come" is just the Ethereal religion they created way back when and followed till this day. So there wasn't actually any threat other than some old beliefs they held and humanity (and Ethereals for that matter) were fine all along and were were just being threatened by the equivalent of a foreign missionary's sayings.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And then when everyone accepts this, giant space tentacles burst out of warp space and burn everything and the Ethereals go "WE TOLD YOU SO WE TOLD YOU SOO TBBBPPPTTHHHHH!!!!"

To my knowledge storywise they did. The problem is that the Alien materials and Elerium could not be replicated, or at least in high quantities, by human technology and soon many of the new devices that Xcom developed fell appart from disrepair and a lack of power.

Well so much that humanity realised the threat of another alien attack but lacked the resources to build back their offense.

Pretty much. In the original, alien alloys could be manufactured (with difficulty), but Elerium had to be recovered from invading ships. It wasn't until humanity found a reliable source of Elerium (I believe on Mars) that they began to expand into space. (See Interceptor.)

TFTD came before any extra-planetary mining, so the Earth's Elerium stockpile was likely used up and irreplaceable. The old laser/plasma weapons, meanwhile, weren't useful underwater, where most combat happened. (Of course, those old laser weapons would've been pretty handy during terror missions, if anyone had thought to dredge them up...)

And then came Apocalypse, with a whole new brand of advanced technology - Devastator Cannons, Vortex Mines, shields, and even teleporters. Humanity had reliable access to Elerium by then; it just wasn't nearly as cutting-edge as it had been a century before.

[umiman]

It'd be pretty amusing if people took the Ethereal warning seriously and started preparing really hard. But after a few decades nothing happens and no one sees any other aliens. Then further analysis of the Ethereal data reveals that the entire concept of "things to come" is just the Ethereal religion they created way back when and followed till this day. So there wasn't actually any threat other than some old beliefs they held and humanity (and Ethereals for that matter) were fine all along and were were just being threatened by the equivalent of a foreign missionary's sayings.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And then when everyone accepts this, giant space tentacles burst out of warp space and burn everything and the Ethereals go "WE TOLD YOU SO WE TOLD YOU SOO TBBBPPPTTHHHHH!!!!"

Sounds like Battlestar Galactica - and if there's one thing I learnt about BSG is that it's awesome. Which is to say it could work as a storyline.

Hrm, sounds like I need to watch Battlestar Galactica.

[Neonivek]

Not to mention that when Apocalypse came that there was a stronger focus on mass production.

What gave the Xcom such a huge edge on the aliens in the first war is because the Xcom were a specialised group who used extremely expencive equipment, very well trained soldiers, and aircraft. Versus the mass produced army and ships.

It would be like comparing the best WW2 Tanks to ultra-light modern ones.

[Sharp]

And then came Apocalypse, with a whole new brand of advanced technology - Devastator Cannons, Vortex Mines, shields, and even teleporters. Humanity had reliable access to Elerium by then; it just wasn't nearly as cutting-edge as it had been a century before.

It was still pretty damn good though. Hoverbikes with Lineage Cannons (big Elerium gun) were damned dangerous. The fact is that there weren't that many elerium weapons, just the plasma pistol iirc for ground combat, lord knows a plasma rifle or heavy plasma would have been pretty useful over the "rifle" (with the accuracy it had it seemed more like smooth-bore).