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[Sharp]

So I broke down and bought the game at the literal last minute pre-order time (not that I even give a shit about customising soliders, TF2 Hats or Civ 5 but my stupid irresistible urge to get a bargain).

And annoyed with myself, started a game on Impossible and then after losing 8 guys in 4 missions and having a few nations major panicking I thought, fuck this lets learn how to play the game first by going into Classic no tutorial Ironman, then maybe RNG loved me but even though I was total noob I probably had the best streak of missions possible but then a silly mistake of dashing my Lt into unknown territory leading him to get flanked by all the floaters in thier shitty free move upon being spotted go and him getting destroyed, plus then losing 2 sergents after not noticing a fucking tank on fire when the map already has a bunch of burning tanks not exploding and then killing them I ragequit.

And then things went bad, never got that good a streak again no matter how much I restarted, kept losing guys from lucky sectoid shots.

So All I have learned so far is dashing is always bad unless you see all the enemies and/or are dashing to an area where you won't see any new enemies (like cover inbetween your soldiers).

Also I lost so many guys by not realising you don't have to overwatch or hunker down to end turn, I though overwatch would be good but 90% of the time they miss and 50% of the time the blow up random cover my point-man is using or blow up cover revealing aliens so they get to flank for free, oh and the waste of ammo. Honestly overwatch is over-rated, all about hunkering down with maybe one guy not just to see where enemies are moving.

Also panic wave is ridiculous, got 2 guys panicking who then proceed to kill aliens in thier panic, then 3rd fucking squaddie panics and takes out my medic point-blank. I can understand being panicked by getting shot at (and hit) but why panic when you see your friends takeout enemies while in rage?

My ideal squad at the moment is 2 Heavies, 2 Supports, 1 Assault and 1 Sniper, that's enough medkits to keep guys alive for the mission, 1 Heavy with Bulletswarm and the other with Holo-Targeting, and after cover is sparce using the flush shot is amazing on the assault when combined with the sniper to just take down waves of enemies. Also funnily enough even though i'm playing on classic I have yet to be fired upon by a cyberdisc, I have yet to see one transform into its death dealing form because I just blow them up out of the sky.
----

Also game is fun, but still not XCOM for me, especially the forced nature of it, I don't like nations leaving when there is nothing I can do because you can only do one mission at a time as well as most of my earlies gripes which are totally founded

Also Scotland is in the UK (for now) so they shouldn't have separate flags, even if Scotland leaves the UK then the UK flag will change because it incorporates the Scottish flag in it's design.

[Neonivek]

Also game is fun, but still not XCOM for me, especially the forced nature of it

Yeah. A lot of the elements of the game are more game then plot. "So let me get this straight... We are boiling down these bodies why?". "Ok why do we get that magical bonus?"

One particular annoying element is that people will take their guns with them in training sessions.

"Honestly overwatch is over-rated"

It isn't. It just isn't all important especially since running enemies have a sizable defense bonus.

Overwatch if done right though can mean 1-2 kills on an enemy rush from the black

[Catastrophic lolcats]

Scotland formed Great Britain. Seriously.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_James_VI_of_Scotland

The UK lost the crown of Ireland when it became independent and a republic. The cross of St. Patrick was not removed from the Union Jack.

If Scotland was to withdraw from the UK they couldn't technically be called "Britain" any more since Britain is used to describe all of England, Scotland and Wales. They might still be able to call themselves "The United Kingdom" since they still hold the crown of Wales, although Wales was integrated into the Kingdom of England a rather long time ago. I don't think the Manx ever had a true kingdom either.
The flag would be rather misleading however. 

[LoSboccacc]

after the umptheen time I lost a skilled soldier against the aliens shooting trough full cover as if it weren't there, I've decided to put back the ironman mode until the game gets fixed.

[Neonivek]

after the umptheen time I lost a skilled soldier against the aliens shooting trough full cover as if it weren't there, I've decided to put back the ironman mode until the game gets fixed.

From what I understand full cover works the way it seems.

It convers a large dodge bonus and that is pretty much it. Some full cover can block line of sight but it is easy to see around it.

[forsaken1111]

Hey, be glad you can even see/shoot around cover. In the original X-Com, if you had 'full cover' it meant you had a wall between you and the enemy so you had to move out and risk reaction fire to shoot.

[IronyOwl]

Also I lost so many guys by not realising you don't have to overwatch or hunker down to end turn, I though overwatch would be good but 90% of the time they miss and 50% of the time the blow up random cover my point-man is using or blow up cover revealing aliens so they get to flank for free, oh and the waste of ammo. Honestly overwatch is over-rated, all about hunkering down with maybe one guy not just to see where enemies are moving.

Overwatch is a potential free attack, at a penalty but potentially against a target out of cover. It's kind of hard to overstate how valuable that is, especially if you're comparing it to an option that only does anything if you're being shot at.

Never seen a soldier blow up useful cover that an enemy wasn't hiding behind. Curious what kind of bizarre angles or aggressive tactics you'd have to be using for that to ever be an issue.

after the umptheen time I lost a skilled soldier against the aliens shooting trough full cover as if it weren't there, I've decided to put back the ironman mode until the game gets fixed.

From what I understand full cover works the way it seems.

It convers a large dodge bonus and that is pretty much it. Some full cover can block line of sight but it is easy to see around it.

Yeah. You'll notice you can shoot aliens when they're behind full cover, for instance. To be immune to being shot at you need some serious obstacles in the way ("walls" of full cover usually do the trick), which will not surprisingly prevent you from firing at them either.

[LoSboccacc]

after the umptheen time I lost a skilled soldier against the aliens shooting trough full cover as if it weren't there, I've decided to put back the ironman mode until the game gets fixed.

From what I understand full cover works the way it seems.

It convers a large dodge bonus and that is pretty much it. Some full cover can block line of sight but it is easy to see around it.

he was in the middle of a wall, with full cover left and right (he was covering the angle from another alien while the squad moved)

then the outsider shot trough the wall from afar, without moving and directly behind the wall (it was so square that I didn't even had a los to it)

Code: [Select]


 O   outsider


___ wall
 X   soldier


now, this is not the first time I see it and it makes ironman moot, atm.

(I know it was an outsider because it spawned in los and moved to that position, exact location revealed after the wall got busted by the plasma rifle)

[Seraphim342]

Found another bug.  If you have a psionic soldier get mind-controlled (which pissed me off in and of itself because she had 90 base willpower, then had psi armor and shielding on top of that...), and then THEY mind-control another one of your guys, and then you kill the Ethereal/Sectoid that mind-controlled your first soldier, the game crashes. 

[Urist McSpike]

re-open game to find out that it doesn't autosave and I didn't save, (was about a month and a half of in-game time played)
so I start a new game, but this time picking the ironman game type, because it says that autosaves that,

Autosaving is an option that is initially disabled, under Options, Gameplay.

after the umptheen time I lost a skilled soldier against the aliens shooting trough full cover as if it weren't there, I've decided to put back the ironman mode until the game gets fixed.

From what I understand full cover works the way it seems.

It convers a large dodge bonus and that is pretty much it. Some full cover can block line of sight but it is easy to see around it.

he was in the middle of a wall, with full cover left and right (he was covering the angle from another alien while the squad moved)

then the outsider shot trough the wall from afar, without moving and directly behind the wall (it was so square that I didn't even had a los to it)

Code: [Select]


 O   outsider


___ wall
 X   soldier


now, this is not the first time I see it and it makes ironman moot, atm.

(I know it was an outsider because it spawned in los and moved to that position, exact location revealed after the wall got busted by the plasma rifle)

Cover seems like its hard to understand.  At it's most basic, it's as if you have a flat map, and cover gives you a 20%/40% hit penalty instead of blocking line of sight.  (Which I can sort of understand, as I guess the idea is that you keep poking your nose out to keep an eye on the enemy, so you can be hit.)  And yet, I've moved guys to a spot I'd think I could shoot from, only for no enemies to be in sight.  It's not really the easiest thing to understand, and I don't yet.

[Metalax]

Having completed the game on normal, I've now started a classic ironman run from south america and I've run into an unusual bug. Rookies start off with 4 health on classic, and indeed, my starting troops are all at that. However the new recruits that I've hired have all been arriving with 6 health, the amount you'd expect if you were playing on easy difficulty.

[LoSboccacc]

It's not really the easiest thing to understand, and I don't yet.

it is extremely simple, actually.
bugs makes it illogical.

for cover bugs, it helps using the more information screen, like in this case:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz82mCWNNgA

for los bug, we're basically at mercy of firaxis.

it doesn't help this aura of denial that surrounds this game bugs.

[Catastrophic lolcats]

Just watching youtube videos of gameplay made me notice a whole range of bugs. There is clearly some problems with both the AI and player characters shooting through cover and walls. I don't see how there can be any denial about this if the casual observer can clearly witness the problems.

[Urist McSpike]

See, but that's the thing, I think - there is no LOS engine like the original had; I mean, there is something, I think...  But it's a flat map, with a variety of "cover objects" that grant you a bonus, but don't block LOS.  And the part that confuses me isn't the cover bonuses, it's "where can I stand and still get a shot off.  For example, I've moved soldiers into full cover, and suddenly they can't see any targets.  Why?  Not sure, and that's what confuses me, because I'd think they could, if they just "lean out".  And yet they can get shot there...

Also, that video reminded me of something that greatly enhanced my gameplay enjoyment - turning off soldier voices. 

[LoSboccacc]

funny you insist that it is a flat map (which is essentially true) because a whole range of bugs come from soldiers being a pixel higher than the floor (on stairs, ramps, whatever)