Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[umiman]

So, I got my hands on Enemy Within and am wondering whether I should directly jump into LW or should I perhaps play the vanilla game for a bit before.

Depends how good you are with the systems.

Long War does require some experience with the actual game before you play it.

[Krevsin]

Well, I have played a bit of EU before.

So far, I feel quite comfortable in LW. But that is surely going to change very soon.

[puke]

Dug up this topic so I wouldn't keep spamming the 'Sales' thread with my xcom banter.  Finally nabbed EU on a sale today, and should be able to redeem something for EW as well.  I guess there is no point to starting with EU?  All of the EU content is also in EW, plus some?

I also think I am going to start directly with LW.  I usually play games stock before trying mods, but since the developers themselves pimp this mod and it just looks to be a great overhaul in its own right, I don't see why not.

Something I've been searching for a little bit today, is a mod that allows multiple bases like in the original game.  I understand the various design decisions about why they are not included, but frankly I just come down on the other side of the fence.  Has anyone made anything like this?  If so, I can't find it.

[GiglameshDespair]

There are no multiple base mods. That would require a lot, lot, lot of work if it was even possible. XCOM simply wasn't made with the possibility of having multiple bases.

[puke]

actually, nevermind.  I just found a post by the Long War author that describes his decision not to add multiple sky rangers.

Firaxis chose to limit only one SR so they could throw these artificial "choose one of three missions" options at you, instead of the emergent choices that were presented from the swarms of UFOs in the original game.

In LW, they solved the problem with a two pronged approach:

 - limiting it to one abduction at a time, so the artificial choice does not exist
 - adding soldier fatigue, so you have to rotate your squads

unfortunately, none of this brings back the hard choices from emergent gameplay that existed in the original.  But I can understand why no one has bothered to implement this feature, considering potential difficulty and the easier workarounds.

[Flying Dice]

Agreed. The geoscape is one of the biggest things I miss whenever I play nuCOM, particularly because nuCOM doesn't bloody have one. It has a 'Give me a mission' button that doubles as an event counter. Man, I remember one campaign where I found a Floater base in a place where my missions farming the supply ships would always be daylight... what a gold mine, haha. Actually, I think that that's the biggest mechanic I miss, most of the others are little details, like being able to support your operation without any nations left just by making and selling stuff, as opposed to a hard-lose condition.

So, I got my hands on Enemy Within and am wondering whether I should directly jump into LW or should I perhaps play the vanilla game for a bit before.

Depends how good you are with the systems.

Long War does require some experience with the actual game before you play it.

Not if you've already played EU, honestly. I jumped right into LW with nothing but year-old memories of that and didn't have any trouble.

[Neonivek]

I think that that's the biggest mechanic I miss, most of the others are little details, like being able to support your operation without any nations left just by making and selling stuff, as opposed to a hard-lose condition.

True but it did lead to one of the more annoying aspects in the game... the "We think you are doing so well that by halfing your budget I am sure you will continue being amazing!"

EXCEPT when Old X-com did it... it really felt like the sort of bureaucratic stupidity and budget cuts you see in real life where they treat success as a sign that they over funded you.

[Flying Dice]

Hehehe, that was actually one of the charm factors for me about X-com. You got a similar effect from the research, where your scientists were basically 'reporting' by saying, "Oh, yeah, we're totally doing good so far, give us more time man."

I don't, however, miss the turn-20 suicide rush on UFO missions, even though it was practically a required element if you wanted to skillgrind your troops effectively.

The shenanigans, though, mind-controlling a muton to pick up a laser pistol and giving all of your power-armored troops kinetic pistols, then standing around in a no-harm circlejerk to improve all the skills. Actually, that sort of relates to another thing I miss, the old way armor and missed shots worked (or shot hit/miss at all, with cover affecting it by blocking accurate shots rather than reducing CtH).

[Rolan7]

Wait...  Budget cuts??  I don't remember those.  The funding nations steadily increased their contribution up to a certain cap, as long as I did well.

Though if you did poorly, or even just let a couple scouts pass over a nation unharassed, that nation would probably be pissy and lower its funding slightly.  It'd be more interesting if they did reduce funding if you didn't need it, the current system is a vicious cycle of failure/victory (or it would be, if funding mattered in old XCOM compared to equipment sales).

Man, I really want to play Apocalypse, but each time I try the interface just confounds me.  I read all the ufopedia data, admire the city, press a few buttons unsuccessfully, then quit.

[SOLDIER First]

Enter, the giant SHIV

GET IN THE FUCKING ROBOT, PRIVATE

[GiglameshDespair]

GET TO DA SHIV

[SOLDIER First]

IF THAT SHIV REACHES THE MAINLAND IT'LL BE THE END OF ALL OF US

[puke]

Man, I really want to play Apocalypse, but each time I try the interface just confounds me.  I read all the ufopedia data, admire the city, press a few buttons unsuccessfully, then quit.

Switch it to turn mode.  Realtime is awful.

[GiglameshDespair]

Keep it on realtime. Dual wield the automatic rocket launchers.

Win.

[Shadowgandor]

You can get this game for free now! https://goldenjoysticks.greenmangaming.com
Pretty awesome.