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[WillowLuman]

Again, SHIVs were the unquestioned rulers of all creation before EW, so idk how much stronger they are now.

[Xantalos]

Again, SHIVs were the unquestioned rulers of all creation before EW, so idk how much stronger they are now.

They regen now.

[Sean Mirrsen]

They weren't so great before. Even with the heavy firepower of the SHIV Plasma, you still get less than a good soldier can do. Sure, they are toughish, cheapish, and decent shots, plus can't be psionic'd and later use suppression and fly, but that was basically it - they couldn't do much besides steamroll Sectoid Commanders. Plus any damage to them means they are out of action for a while, and repairing them in the field requires yet another tech, and carrying arc throwers around.

Enter Sentinel Drone tech. One, infinite 2HP/turn self-repair. Not even MECs and genemodded soldiers can do that. (MECs are limited to 6HP/mission, and genemods only restore up to base health) Two, free shot at anything that moves within 4 tiles - Close Combat Specialist for SHIVs, basically.

So now, instead of a cheap but simple and unversatile unit that doesn't do much, you have a cheap and cheerful combination of a tank and a genemodded Assault on speed. Literally on speed, with the later servomotors upgrade.

[WillowLuman]

Unstoppable. Absolutely unstoppable.

[Xantalos]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l2RZdBpuTI

[Culise]

A great place to test out Mecs, though. And what an amazing layout for squadsight snipers. Best bring someone with Up Close and Personal, though.

Or if the mission happens later than usual, SHIVs with the Sentinel Drone upgrade. Seriously, that one upgrade instantly catapults the humble SHIV from "injured rookie fill-in" to "terror mission must-have". Shaped Armor and Enhanced Servomotors (or Advanced Servomotors, can't remember) help too, but they're a far later tech.

I rolled it ridiculously late in my first game.  Turns out that sending two MECs and four regular soldiers, including a squad-sight Sniper, all equipped with the latest and greatest in plasma weaponry turned it into a total cakewalk. 

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

*Zombie busts out of building right next to soldiers*
*Zombie eats Close Combat plasma*

It's probably fair turnabout for the extraordinary pain the Base Defense mission put me through, but I rather wish that Council Missions scaled to game time as well.  At least we know what X-COM is going to be doing after the war, now; imagine what would happen if that whale had died out to sea and not been brought to shore.

[WillowLuman]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Somehow I think that chryssalids drown, but they do seem a threat to the biosphere in general. Chryssalid cleanup will be necessary. Unless it turns out that the chryssalids I saw on terror missions (since I responded to all of them) were all the chryssalids deployed, in which case they were fairly well exterminated.

[forsaken1111]

Wait, collapsible floors? Since when?

since always...

Ground tiles can't be destroyed in this game. If you can stand on it, it's indestructible.

Huh... I guess I'm misremembering then. My mistake.

[Silfurdreki]

A great place to test out Mecs, though. And what an amazing layout for squadsight snipers. Best bring someone with Up Close and Personal, though.

Or if the mission happens later than usual, SHIVs with the Sentinel Drone upgrade. Seriously, that one upgrade instantly catapults the humble SHIV from "injured rookie fill-in" to "terror mission must-have". Shaped Armor and Enhanced Servomotors (or Advanced Servomotors, can't remember) help too, but they're a far later tech.

I rolled it ridiculously late in my first game.  Turns out that sending two MECs and four regular soldiers, including a squad-sight Sniper, all equipped with the latest and greatest in plasma weaponry turned it into a total cakewalk. 

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

*Zombie busts out of building right next to soldiers*
*Zombie eats Close Combat plasma*

It's probably fair turnabout for the extraordinary pain the Base Defense mission put me through, but I rather wish that Council Missions scaled to game time as well.  At least we know what X-COM is going to be doing after the war, now; imagine what would happen if that whale had died out to sea and not been brought to shore.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

First time I got it was month two or three, went in totally blind with a three semi-veterans (two heavies and one sniper, I think) and one rookie. We were acing the mission until just before the ship, murdering zombies and chryssalids left and right. Then the rookie got killed when he missed a 75%+ shot at the last chryssalid on the docks. Then I triggered the whale with a combat scanner from far away, since I wanted to know what was on the ship before going in there. Cue needing to cross the whole length of the ship while the whale was spawning one, and later two, chryssalids per turn. One of my heavies died by the door to the bridge with no ammo left. I think that mission lost me that particular game.

[Mr Space Cat]

A note on SHIVs, a critical hit on them will disable the sentinel module, stopping all regen and the close combat reaction shot. Crits are unlikely due to the harden trait, but it can happen. They aren't completely indestructible.

[WillowLuman]

Nothing's completely indestructible but Shivs are pretty close. With the additional armor, they can't even get 1-hit-punk'd by the rift anymore.

[umiman]

Yeah, they're pretty much godmode in EW.

The only reason I don't just only use them is because it would feel so bad. It's supposed to be humans defending valiantly against extinction... except in this case all this humans are chillaxing on a beach while the SHIVs go and do all the work.

I still remember seeing for the first time how nutty they were. When my colonel sniper had a lower hit chance to shoot down a floater than the SHIV. The sniper must have had a "I'm so worthless" moment right there. At least heavies can carry rocket launchers, though I'm not sure why we can't just attach bazookas to the SHIVs either. Probably a union thing.

[WillowLuman]

I tend to reserve them for terror missions, them being so fast.

[Mageziya]

Then again, you're sending robots, non-sentient, non-living, things to fight. Would you rather have a Human die or a robot? Either way, they're far more ethical than MECs.

[PanH]

So, bought Enemy Within with the last sale. After trying again a Classic Ironman (and I'm quite failling at it too), I'm wondering about some stuff :
What happens if I lose a special mission (say, an Operation Slingshot mission ? I also failed one with a french military convoy that has been attacked, don't know if it leads to anything) ? Does the operation chain continue or not ?
Medals are destroyed if the soldier you gave them is dead, I assume ?
How to save a VIP ? Seriously, I remember it being easy as pie, but now, aliens seems to shoot at it first, and when 5 thin men rain down from the sky, I can't kill them all, and they inevitably kill the VIP with their crazy accuracy (failed 3 VIP missions that way).
And, any general advice on classic difficulty ? I know it's kinda too hard for me, but when the game went out, I played Normal, and it became too easily too quick (hell, didn't even finished the game), I wish there was a middle difficulty, so I'm trying Classic.

Also, the game is quite more polished now. The "make items disappear from anyone not in the team" button is crazy useful. Plenty of little stuff (nice options) that are really nice, though, should probably have been in the base game.