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[mattie2009]

O.o

I made a similar personal mod as well and I have almost exactly the same rank names. I have:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Rookie
Squaddie
Operative
Senior Operative
Agent
Senior Agent
Commando
Specialist

Great minds think alike yes? 


Gah I was hoping to find some detailed information on how ufo detection and missions work. Despite numerous playthroughs I must admit to still not knowing how exactly it works. Not that it's really needed if all you need to do is shoot 'em down as they come. The wiki wasn't particularly informative on the subject.

So anyone here knows how it works exactly? From what I gather the regular ufos you detect (wich vary in class) are mostly there just to be shot down and don't carry out missions, while the ones that do carry out missions cannot be detected. I also gather that the aliens stop sending abduction missions after certain satelite coverage is achieved. Ufo with a definite mission that I have been able to detect however are the ones trying to shoot down satelites, wich only pop up if you ignore the regular ufos (wich I suppose means the regular ones might have a scout mission).
I haven't really payed attention to the amount of alien missions (terror and abductions) per month. There's probably at least one a month, but are there more? I also assume the ufo objective in the hyperwave intel report is flavor text, as I don't think I've seen them carry the mission out if I ignore them.
Hypothetically (and extremely unlikely, it's hard to fail at safeguarding the skies) if you were to lose a bunch of satelites where the aliens were previously no longer abducting, would they start doing so again?

Aliens will not launch abduction missions in any region with satellite coverage, so yeah, chances are good losing a satellite in that region will put the country back on the aliens' shit-list.

[Parsely]

Aliens will not launch abduction missions in any region with satellite coverage, so yeah, chances are good losing a satellite in that region will put the country back on the aliens' shit-list.

Really?!! ... Is there any way you can take advantage of that when it comes to strategy..?

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Aliens will not launch abduction missions in any region with satellite coverage, so yeah, chances are good losing a satellite in that region will put the country back on the aliens' shit-list.

Really?!! ... Is there any way you can take advantage of that when it comes to strategy..?

Yes. If you "cut off" a region the only ways panic can increase in it are failing terror missions, letting UFOs operate unopposed, or EXALT propaganda, so it makes it safe. If you want, you can just leave a single country without a satellite and be able to keep doing abduction missions without increasing panic anywhere.

[My Name is Immaterial]

Is it just me or is the final mission not very challenging, except for the sectopod room?

[GiglameshDespair]

Everything past 40~ % of the way through is a cakewalk. Soon as I start outfitting my guys with plasma it's quite frankly good as won, even more so now with gene-mods and MECs.

[Parsely]

Everything past 40~ % of the way through is a cakewalk. Soon as I start outfitting my guys with plasma it's quite frankly good as won, even more so now with gene-mods and MECs.

Yeah the game has a reverse difficulty curve. I rather like it, because in some ways it represents the idea of a war against a superior enemy far better than it would if done the traditional way. It by no means will save you if you code black of course, at least not without some luck.

[mastahcheese]

Is it just me or is the final mission not very challenging, except for the sectopod room?

It's not just you, like Gun said, the reverse difficulty curve sets in.
I actually had no problem with the sectopods, but I also got super lucky in that I saw them without them seeing me, so I was able to have my MEC drop a prox mine right on top of them and weaken them rather heavily.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I have a tendency to mindjack one of the Mutons and send them to die against the Sectopods while Rifting them.

[GreatWyrmGold]

I have a tendency to mindjack one of the Mutons and send them to die against the Sectopods while Rifting them.

That's...That is definitely a thing.

[mastahcheese]

It's what I did with the Ethereals at the end.

[Jelle]

Everything past 40~ % of the way through is a cakewalk. Soon as I start outfitting my guys with plasma it's quite frankly good as won, even more so now with gene-mods and MECs.

Yeah the game has a reverse difficulty curve. I rather like it, because in some ways it represents the idea of a war against a superior enemy far better than it would if done the traditional way. It by no means will save you if you code black of course, at least not without some luck.

I cannot understand how you can like it. It just makes it so boring once you pass the point where there is little challenge left, you already know you've won so where's the fun in the drudgery of the delay. The first is the challenge of managing panic wich becomes a non issue once you completed your sat rush, second is when you get your tech up to plasma and titan armor wich trivialises pretty much every mission. What really is left to challenge you once you've got those two covered?

[Sean Mirrsen]

Everything past 40~ % of the way through is a cakewalk. Soon as I start outfitting my guys with plasma it's quite frankly good as won, even more so now with gene-mods and MECs.

Yeah the game has a reverse difficulty curve. I rather like it, because in some ways it represents the idea of a war against a superior enemy far better than it would if done the traditional way. It by no means will save you if you code black of course, at least not without some luck.

I cannot understand how you can like it. It just makes it so boring once you pass the point where there is little challenge left, you already know you've won so where's the fun in the drudgery of the delay. The first is the challenge of managing panic wich becomes a non issue once you completed your sat rush, second is when you get your tech up to plasma and titan armor wich trivialises pretty much every mission. What really is left to challenge you once you've got those two covered?

Neo-XCOM is just too arcade. The old X-Com, while it does have its share of flaws, is still a superior strategy game overall.

Also, NewGame+. That's what's left to challenge you. Second Wave can seriously challenge you if you're good enough to complete the game on a high difficulty. Lose all soldier gear on death, have the big aliens get free shots at you when spotted, slowly lose Council funding and your Elerium stores over time, and have Psionics be mutually exclusive with Genemods, among other pleasant options.

[MorleyDev]

I like it for the same reason I hate the enemy scaling in many modern RPGs. The game makes it feel like you've earned that power. At the start of the game you are weak, scared, desperate and barely surviving your encounters with the enemy. By the end-game, you have fought an up hull battle to become powerful, mighty, and you can laugh manically as your enemies flee before you.

Why get stronger if the world will always gets stronger with you? The will of strength and power is to dominate, without that capacity they are pointless goals. ...okay, I may of read too much Nietzsche last night.

[Sean Mirrsen]

The problem is that the game sets the difficulty at the start, and only really ups the ante once. In OldCom, the aliens are strong from the outset, and gradually get stronger - but through all the time you spend fighting, you are playing catch-up on sheer power. Your best tech is the alien tech, and you have parity with the aliens on the ground - a shot of Heavy Plasma can OHKO your best soldier if he is unlucky, and Heavy Plasma is standard alien gear by then. In the air, you need massive investment to achieve that parity - Fusion weapons and Firestorms are expensive to field, and the Aliens can mobilize in far greater numbers than you can respond to - and until then you are SOL if you meet a Battleship.

In NewCom, the combat system is such that a hit of even a Mechtoid's or Sectopod's plasma cannon, even a lucky one, will never kill a fully kitted out Colonel outright, whereas a shot of a Laser Rifle, sans Damage Roulette, is a guaranteed kill on Sectoids and Thin Men on Normal. And Sectoids stop being a danger at all once you have Titan armor, as well as Thin Men to a lesser extent. Even Chryssalids stop being a problem once you're up to Plasma, since you have abilities that straight-up counter them - CQS plus Alloy Cannon. Simply put, in OldCom any alien you saw was a danger, all the time, whereas in NewCom you have "tiers" of aliens and equipment, and can ROFLstomp aliens on a lower tier than you. Same with Geoscape - Abductions are a simple event, UFOs appear one at a time, Battleships only appear in very specific circumstances, etc - only one Firestorm with the best cannon is ever required per continent, and the interception is an arcade game with "powerups" instead of anything like a risk-filled engagement.

With such definite mechanics and counters, of course the game stops being challenging. It has a definite victory clause, and you end up always more powerful than the aliens instead of fighting a losing battle and needing to Ender's Game your way out of the invasion.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Seeing as Earth is the planet the alien base is on, you might want to think twice about that kind of strategy.