Cmdr Spike's AAR - [Spoilers]

[Space Voyager]

I'm totally with you on the liberal grenade use (even my snipers used those to get any levelling done). After your people have a decent survival possibility, you can ease up on those.

 

Also agree that the one-item slot mechanics is not at all aiming for realism, it is more of an artificial complexity factor.

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

I think Dr. Vahlen needs some (explosives) ... of her own. See what I did there? Yup, blow shit up! Sappers, grenadiers and all the demolition experts out there will fawn over you. Nothing wrong with a little incendiary once in awhile either.

[sp1ke]

Meh. You know what? This game is all about not triggering multiple alien pod spawns. That's basically the game. That's the first rule. The second rule is controlling how to trigger a single alien pod spawn. Whoever said you can maneuver differently when you have not spawned a pod, well, yeah, but not really. Not much. Unless high cover is plentiful, you need to have 3 guys in or near high cover and one guy inching forward toward the spawn point's trigger LOS.

 

So basically that's the whole game and it's kind of boring. Get a good position and inch one guy up to trigger one cell spawn. Take them out and then repeat. Totally restrict your tactical movement (flanking etc) because any advantage of tactical maneuver is outweighed by the risk of triggering another pod.

 

Frankly I think it's all BS on a couple of levels. Unless the aliens not only lack any form of communication system (telepathy? radios? speech?) and are also deaf, there is no reason why all pods don't activate the moment the first pod activates. "Hey Gurgleplizz, what's that sound?" "Oh, sounds like native warriors attacking with their rapid firing metal-projector weapons, Fnurdzazz. What should we do?" "Let's just wait around. I'm sure Blarfdweb and Grnggnar will deal with it. Let's keep playing this hand of Blerbarfnitzvatch".

 

So all pods should activate on first contact. And if the game is then too hard, too bad. Turn down the difficulty level until you can handle the alien onslaught. But at least the squad tactics would make sense, rather than being like some kind of trivial variant of playing Minesweeper. :-(

 

I suppose there's no Mod that makes all pods activate at once? Does the AI crap itself if it tries to manage that many aliens at once?

[sp1ke]

So based on the above, the game should either have one pod per mission or trigger all pods at the same time. Then you get to ignore the stupid meta-game of not triggering multiple pods. You still have to deal with the stupid meta-game of how best to trigger one / all pods. Which basically means preserving as many actions as possible at the point you trigger the pod, preferably triggering the pod with the first action of your first guy, each time. Which means doing one half-move (one single action of only one soldier) per turn. If you don't do that, you're being stupid, because you are losing the meta-game of pod triggering. So boredom and tediousness is mandatory.

 

How depressing!

[sp1ke]

In fact it would be better if all alien units just spawned at the beginning of the mission, and used real movement / real tactics from then on, rather than the roving teleporting spawn locus approach.

 

I know the aliens don't get to fire at you. That's not the problem. The problem is you get an opportunity to both fire and maneuver to best effect, after seeing the positions they (all) deploy to. So passing up that advantage is giving yourself a handicap.

 

Really the turn structure of original XCOM EU was pretty smart and they shouldn't have messed with it. Real aliens sitting in real positions, probably on overwatch, waiting for you to move, requiring you to move cautiously and secure your flanks.

 

Yeah, I don't know why people complain about the pod spawning process like it's an advantage to the aliens. It's not. It's a freebie to the humans. The alternative would be you spot almost always only one alien at a time and usually the first you know about it is a reaction shot comes in from a flank and takes out your lead soldier. Then the rest that you can't even see yet start taking shots or maneuvering.

 

I realise that would be too much like original EU I guess and would make it almost just a graphics engine update. I don't mind that they tried new tactical rules but I am just not convinced the pod spawning mechanic is any good. :-(

[sp1ke]

- NKF

NKF you will be pleased to hear I am making great use of the pistol / grenade combo in battling the First Impossible Mission. A grenade reduces an unbuffed Sectoid to 1HP as well as denuding its cover. A pistol hit is guaranteed to deal the necessary 1HP and saves the more effective Assault Rifle burst for a more worthwhile target, postponing the necessity for a risky and ineffective turn spent in reloading the Assault Rifle.

[sp1ke]

As a slight improvement I managed to survive the First Mission with 3 soldiers, 1 gravely wounded, all 3 promoted. However to do that I had to save-scum quite heroically!

 

The promoted soldiers both died in the first turn of combat on the next mission and one of the two rookies died while they were running flat out back to the Skyranger. Well, they don't call it Impossible for no reason I guess!

[Hobbes]

I suppose there's no Mod that makes all pods activate at once? Does the AI crap itself if it tries to manage that many aliens at once?

 

You don't want all of the aliens activated at the same time, trust me on that one. One of the worst experiences you can have is getting 5 Sectopods being activated in two turns on Terror missions on EW. Even with 6 Colonels you're going to have a tough time with that one.

[sp1ke]

Aha for the first time I made it through the First Impossible Mission with 4/4 survivors, all promoted, one injured (9 days). So I am now going into the Second Impossible Mission with a Sniper, Heavy, Support and a rookie. :-)

[sp1ke]

And got through the Second Impossible Mission (Abductions, Difficult). All survived, two wounded. 10 Sectoid corpses for the Lab freezer.

 

The strategic game is going to be tough on Impossible. I suppose the goal is just get 8 sats up. It seems impossible to get another Satellite Uplink up and running in the first month, even if you build a Workshop as soon as it is available. And if anything it's harder to build the satellites, as they would all need to be started by the 11th of March.

[sp1ke]

Well the AI does not understand 3 dimensions. Definitely not with Sectoids: 12 Sectoids down, no casualties, not even a graze. I get on the roof of the gas station and the mind-merger Sectoids stand in the open while the mind-mergee Sectoids stand next to the building wall below me. I get easy, two for one kills. Impossible isn't supposed to be this easy!

[sp1ke]

I did the first Scout UFO mission without casualties. Lots and lots of Sectoids on Impossible!

 

Then I got OTS just in time for Friends in Impossibly Low Places so I did that with 5 guys. It was hard. I had a Muton as the new alien, which is tougher than a Chrysallid I think - smarter, has weapons, and a grenade. I lost my 2nd-oldest vet, dead, to the Muton's grenade. It was a bad time for both Snipers to be out of ammo. Still my dead vet was a Heavy so 'Chilong' makes a good replacement. And the mission is worth losing soldiers for.

[sp1ke]

There is an ancient Heavy proverb which says: "Don't bring a knife to a gun fight. And don't fire a rocket at a Muton when he is in grenade range." R.I.P. Corporal Paddy Robinson.

 

Entirely true to the original, it remains complete nonsense of course that XCOM starts out with rookies. "COMMANDER! (big booming Council voice). Here's a few billion dollars worth of investment to build the spear that will defend the fate of humanity. Now be sure to mount some clueless n00bs at the point of the spear. What? No, sorry, all of humanity's millions of combat veterans are currently unavailable. They're busy. Doing their hair."

[sp1ke]

By the way y'all know AAR stands for After Action Rant, right? ;-)

[Hobbes]

I had a Muton as the new alien, which is tougher than a Chrysallid I think - smarter, has weapons, and a grenade.

 

If you can capture that Muton you'll be able get the Plasma Research credit after its interrogation and you can skip Lasers and go straight for LPR.

[silencer_pl]

Why would you want to skip lasers? Lasers are the first thing you should go for and deploy in April.

[sp1ke]

If you can capture that Muton you'll be able get the Plasma Research credit after its interrogation and you can skip Lasers and go straight for LPR.

Excellent plan. However I hadn't even finished the research on Arc Thrower by the time I saw the Muton. I guess I should have selected Xeno-Biology as my first research topic.

[sp1ke]

Why would you want to skip lasers? Lasers are the first thing you should go for and deploy in April.

One of the great things about Impossible is it really focuses the mind on what research to pursue because you definitely can't just have everything. Far from it. After a lot of stressing about it, I decided that weapons were better than armour. It's what I tend to go for in original XCOM EU as well. The way I analyse it, ok, laser weapons are only maybe +1 damage per hit. But you are making a lot of hits per mission, at least 20 hits on a 10-alien mission, probably more. Whereas armour, you only get 1 more HP from a Nano-vest and hopefully you get hit at most 1-2 times per mission. I generally think it's better and more useful to kill the aliens before they get to attack, rather than soaking up their damage. With good tactics you should be able to ensure that most of the time it's about you killing them rather than them killing you (though I have just had a one shot kill of a vet from a Muton when hunkered down behind high cover). The only difficulty with this strategy is when 4/5/6 of your guys gang up on one alien and fail to hit and kill said alien. So SCOPEs and then laser weapons feel like the right choice. For the beginning of the game, SCOPEs if anything are more effective that laser weapons in increasing your squad firepower (and XP gain / promotion prospects). 35% to hit vs 25%, or even 55% vs 45%, makes more of a difference than the extra laser damage. BUT, of course the laser weapon doesn't take up an extra slot (*item limit rage!*). And having both is even better.

 

What tech track do you guys take in Impossible? I definitely see the advantage of what Hobbes is saying that if you can skip straight to plasma with the right research credits, you can save a huge amount of research and engineering time and cost, including by scavenging plasma weapons off the battlefield.

 

As there are so many critical research priorities I am not sure I would put laser weapons top of the list. Though I was surprised that air combat does not get difficult as quickly as I was expecting, even on Impossible. So air combat research is not the highest priority either.

 

For me the single highest priority in Impossible is getting OTS to increase squad size, without which XCOM is doomed to lose its vets and end up just loosing rookies 4 at a time and missions 1 at a time. :-(

[sp1ke]

Well I can't seem to complete Confounding Light. I have no armour upgrades and only some Laser Rifles and a couple of Lt rank vets. I am getting royally killed. I went in the Assault and Support Sergeants and a Rookie with Laser Rifles and 2 Snipers with ballistic Sniper Rifles, one Lt one Sgt. The rookie was supposed to run down the train while everyone else covered and killed aliens from the half covered roof, with the Assault and the sprinter Support ready to step into the rookie's vaporised shoes when needed. But it didn't work out that way.

 

I am thinking I needed to get the full laser weapon set earlier by starting with Xeno Biology and getting a Sectoid capture for Beam Weapons credit. Either that or a Floater capture for Basic Armour credit and faster Carapace Armour. I need something.

 

I also probably needed not to get my Heavy wounded in the previous (medium) UFO crash recovery. A couple of rockets go a long way to evening the odds against swarms of Thin Men backed up by Mutons.

 

And giving all the kills to just one of the Lts to get them up to Captain and get Squad Size II would have been smart too.

[silencer_pl]

Plasma Guns are expensive to build. I prefer to capture the guns rather than produce them. Laser weapons are cheap enough to build them. And you really need the credits for pouring those satellites. Going for Xeno-biology and arc thrower to get faster lasers is pointless, because your wasting the time on 2 techs to get 1. Just get few more scientists and you'll be good.

[NKF]

By the sound of it, Sp1ke's a judicious user of the arc thrower, so capturing plasma weapons shouldn't be a problem. Besides, about 2 - 3 Assault Rifle replacements allows for a decent start. A team heavy with Heavies and Snipers on the other hand can make do for a while as their starting weapons are fairly strong.

 

The main problem with jumping straight to plasma weaponry is the longer research. Unless you get a bit of research credit, the delay in getting them might hurt a bit.

 

As for armor - I'd argue the Skeleton suit is a very worthy project to invest some research time on as early as you can. Of the starting suits, it has rubbish protection but the +3 to move and grapple are a major boon for all the classes. It's budget Ghost Armor without all the cool extras.

 

- NKF

[silencer_pl]

Doesn't skeleton armour require carapace first?

[sp1ke]

I need Arc Thrower and containment anyway for storyline and for any other interrogation, and - as you say Silencer - for capturing plasma weapons. No point researching them if I don't want to pay for them and can't capture them, right?

[silencer_pl]

Capturing aliens is difficult and risky. I do it if situation allows it, the live aliens can wait few missions more. And having that in mind I plan the research for things I need now and don't have to rely on captured aliens. I only can see Xeno-biology researched first only when starting in South America, because any interrogation / autopsy is instant, but still didn't play long enough in South America to test if it is good to do it if one wants to race to lasers.

[Hobbes]

Why would you want to skip lasers? Lasers are the first thing you should go for and deploy in April.

 

Well I can endure April only with conventional weapons, even on Impossible (sometimes even May). Skipping lasers allows you to focus research on Carapace and Experimental Warfare (which gives Reaper Rounds) and you'll save quite a few alien alloys from not building lasers. LPRs come free (since you'll capture them), give +10 Aim and have the same power as Laser Rifles.

 

It's more challenging but quite rewarding when you start deploying Carapace+LPR squads by late April/May since your squad will be superior to every alien, even the Mutons that start appearing on May.

 

For me the single highest priority in Impossible is getting OTS to increase squad size, without which XCOM is doomed to lose its vets and end up just loosing rookies 4 at a time and missions 1 at a time. :-(

 

OTS is critical to start building on the first month to get the Squad Size upgrades. Either try getting a Sergeant promoted or to receive one as a reward for the 2nd round of Abductions.

 

Going for Xeno-biology and arc thrower to get faster lasers is pointless, because your wasting the time on 2 techs to get 1. Just get few more scientists and you'll be good.

 

The Laser Weapons research credit applies to Weapons Fragments, Beam Weapons, Heavy Lasers and Precision Lasers techs, plus Xenobiology/Arc Thrower are useful throughout the entire game. It is a matter of maximizing your gains by starting research when you'll gain the most from the bonus.

 

As for armor - I'd argue the Skeleton suit is a very worthy project to invest some research time on as early as you can. Of the starting suits, it has rubbish protection but the +3 to move and grapple are a major boon for all the classes. It's budget Ghost Armor without all the cool extras.

 

Skeleton Suit also includes +10 Defense, which can be better than the added protection of Carapace since it's better not to get hit at all, and it costs less Alien Alloys to produce.

 

Capturing aliens is difficult and risky. I do it if situation allows it, the live aliens can wait few missions more. And having that in mind I plan the research for things I need now and don't have to rely on captured aliens. I only can see Xeno-biology researched first only when starting in South America, because any interrogation / autopsy is instant, but still didn't play long enough in South America to test if it is good to do it if one wants to race to lasers.

 

Yeah, SA rocks for a capture strategy but it will hurt you on early income.

 

The best maps for capturing aliens are Large Scouts (Outsider/LPR waiting on bridge for you to come and get it), and Abduction maps with plenty of building/cover/roofs. Disabling Shot is also very nice to neutralize aliens and reduce their HPs by 1, 2 or 3 points (depending on the type of sniper rifle) to increase the stun chances. And 2 Arc Throwers also help a lot in case the first one fails to stun the alien.