Going Tactical

[Thorondor]

Watch your six for, this time around, we're getting a step-by-step look at how a tactical encounter develops in XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

 

In the world of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, players will need much more than brute strength and Rambo tactics. Would be generals will need to implement precise coordination between all of their elite soldiers. Take note as we walk you through some sample tactics, featuring a three-person squad.

Assume assault formation and jump over to Gameinformer's screenshot-laden article.

[FullAuto]

For all it's a fairly simple set-piece, that looks good. Different from the original, in that it's not so much about the minutiae of efficient use of TUs, but more of a succession of bigger concepts (moving, in cover, being pinned) which isn't necessarily bad. Destruction of property to clear a line of fire is a good sign.

 

I hope the environments are expansive enough, as they look quite detailed (at least in terms of features) and you don't often find the two combined.

[Jman4117]

SWEET! I must have this!

[Space Voyager]

Shhhhh... I don't have the time to go through it now! And I wanna!!!

[Thorondor]

Oh yeah, now we're talkin' !!

[FullAuto]

Rooftop access for classes other than the sniper was something I was worried about, but this is reassuring.

 

Bit strange to see the Heavy carrying two heavy weapons, but fair enough.

[CapnKill]

Please allow Homer Simpson to describe my thoughts on this:

 

https://einsteinsdesk.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/drooling-homer-simpson.jpg

[silencer_pl]

Bit strange to see the Heavy carrying two heavy weapons, but fair enough.

 

JA2 and 4 laws in a pocket He is carrying that rocket launcher on his back so no problem I guess? He is after all big and bulky.

 

I am also wondering what happened to the roof of said building - it should also collapse judgeing by the exposion.

 

 

This presented situaion makes you drool all the way to Kansas (unless you live there). But this scenario against 1 enemy and strangely the Muton just sit there all the time ?

[Doctoxic]

not impressed with the 3 man squad size - i hope this isn't a fixed limit

 

also the mission size was really small - hope thios is just an example and not the standard map size

[Bomb Bloke]

Suspect it'll be an early training mission. The close up shot of the mutons makes me think there's some scripting going on. Still, three soldiers wiping out mutons like that makes me wonder how serious they are when they say rambo tactics won't work.

 

Why bother with suppressive fire when you've got a bigass plasma gun? Why not just burn through the van with it?

 

Cornbread would've been a lot more useful at ground level. Having to blow half the building off in order to gain LOS from an elevated position is, um, flashy but not very practical.

 

... Did the rocket explode in the middle of a giant open doorway?! Some sort of trigger to make it go off where you want it to? Seemed to do surprisingly little damage, specifically taking out the walls and causing no other damage/scorching to the surrounding area once the smoke cleared.

 

I guess the pod that took out the roof is some sort of teleporter device or something?

 

Looks like gas prices have gone up again?

[FullAuto]

not impressed with the 3 man squad size - i hope this isn't a fixed limit

 

also the mission size was really small - hope thios is just an example and not the standard map size

 

I think you can have up to 5, it's never going to be like the original where you can take dozens.

 

Ditto on the map size, but I hope this was just a small size for a limited tactical illustration.

 

Suspect it'll be an early training mission. The close up shot of the mutons makes me think there's some scripting going on.

 

Cornbread would've been a lot more useful at ground level. Having to blow half the building off in order to gain LOS from an elevated position is, um, flashy but not very practical.

 

Again, I hope it's because this isn't a part of an actual mission, this is just a demonstration of the possibilities open to you.

[Doctoxic]

when you look at some older games and what they allowed you to do (e.g. Xcom and JA2) the new versions seem to leave out a lot of the good stuff - game design these days seems to be focused on dumbing down

 

at the moment it still looks like Xenonauts is the better option

[Space Voyager]

I think you can have up to 5, it's never going to be like the original where you can take dozens.

I do hope this limit is lifted a bit. I know one has to have a limit somewhere but up-to-five seems a really low limit. Loosing one of three soldiers is a heavy blow, loosing one of a dozen is not as hard. Being able to take casualties and still win was one of the main features of X-COM.

[Hobbes]

I do hope this limit is lifted a bit. I know one has to have a limit somewhere but up-to-five seems a really low limit. Loosing one of three soldiers is a heavy blow, loosing one of a dozen is not as hard. Being able to take casualties and still win was one of the main features of X-COM.

 

If you are facing 1 or 2 aliens then losing 1 of 3 soldiers on a mission makes it harder but it is not as if losing 1 out of 3 while having to face 20 aliens.

 

XCOM squads were 10+ because of the number of aliens that you could encounter during the mission. Also, the more you brought the more firepower you'd have and it would be easier to take down all the aliens outside a UFO with scout and sniper tactics - just bring a HWP and have everyone on a line behind it, firing at the aliens that the HWP discovers.

[FullAuto]

game design these days seems to be focused on dumbing down

 

I hear this a lot, but I don't see much in the way of evidence. I don't even know how you would measure it in order to provide evidence. Our own perceptions of what's going on ("The world is going to shit, kids these days, no standards." etc) cannot be trusted. Facts, evidence, proof, not sweeping generalisations.

[Doctoxic]

I hear this a lot, but I don't see much in the way of evidence. I don't even know how you would measure it in order to provide evidence. Our own perceptions of what's going on ("The world is going to shit, kids these days, no standards." etc) cannot be trusted. Facts, evidence, proof, not sweeping generalisations.

 

civ 5 - a storm of critisism over that (was that Firaxis?)

 

this new xcom - or at least the specualtion on some of the things we have seen so far

 

JA:Back in Action - where do i start!!!

 

the good thing is there does seem to be a a lot of indie companies developing what look like good games

[FullAuto]

Well, again, that's your opinion over three games. Which, even if they were true, are still "a storm of criticism", speculation, and more speculation, not proof of being "dumbed down". So even two-thirds of your proof is based on things you haven't played. Not to mention, three games is not a representative sample for a medium that has published tens of thousands of titles. So even if you had played them and your opinion was factually accurate, it wouldn't matter.

 

As you age, your brain chemistry changes. The way you perceive the world changes. To say that there was a golden age of gaming, where every game was an intricate exercise of every gamer's towering intellect, and now games are being "dumbed down" so the retards can play them is a load of old rubbish. Your view takes in a tiny part of the medium as a whole. It's no good trying to get an overall view of a highly complex landscape from an individual point of view. You need a lot of data for that.

[flark]

Partly I'm very excited, but partly I'm also disappointed to keep hearing about all of this "downscaling" of the game.

 

Only 1 base.

Much smaller squads.

 

XCOM was supposed to feel like war on a global scale. Earth's finest soldiers versus an Alien menace. The original managed to achieve this pretty well. It managed to stike a great balance between feeling like a full scale war, but at the same time keeping each individual unit massively important by breaking it down into smaller conflicts and missions (but not too small).

 

I worry that 3 soldiers taking out a Muton in a gas station does not give out the same vibes. I know this was only a small scale "training mission" style example, but I'm sure you know what I mean.

 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'm worrying for no reason and everything will be fine in the end.

[Hobbes]

I hear this a lot, but I don't see much in the way of evidence. I don't even know how you would measure it in order to provide evidence. Our own perceptions of what's going on ("The world is going to shit, kids these days, no standards." etc) cannot be trusted. Facts, evidence, proof, not sweeping generalisations.

 

It's called Ephebiphodia (fear of youth)

[Doctoxic]

...... if it weren't for you meddling kids........

[CapnKill]

I think you can have up to 5, it's never going to be like the original where you cna take dozens.

 

Whoa? Where did you get this from? I know there is an initial limit, but I've not seen anything to suggest that it won't be lifted as the game progresses...

 

It would be very dissapointing. I always loved taking 20 guys on a mission and then let the survival of the fittest game begin!!

 

at the moment it still looks like Xenonauts is the better option

 

Really? That Xenonauts vid looks like poop to me. Graphics are still very dated.

 

UFO2:ET I think has the better shot at success if by some reason Firaxis fails.

 

Also lets not forget the ability to mod the game... someone can take the Firaxis game and perhaps change things

[FullAuto]

XCOM was supposed to feel like war on a global scale.

 

But it never was. Check out the last X-Com game you played versus the actual last global conflict we had (and bear in mind, that would be when we were fighting ourselves, not an external threat, where we would potentially summon up even more numbers). It's not total war, it's a kind of massive guerrilla campaign, with the aliens striking worldwide, trying to subvert countries and establish bases, and X-Com trying to foil them, not with battalions and divisions, but with the very best troops available, the best of the special forces from across the globe.

 

Whoa? Where did you get this from? I know there is an initial limit, but I've not seen anything to suggest that it won't be lifted as the game progresses...

 

Thought I read it somewhere in the early GI stuff? Small team, 5-6 at most?

 

The reduction in the amount of troops is a bit shit, not because it's an overall reduction in numbers, but because it's forced on the player.

 

As for Xenonauts and other games, it's kind of amusing that it's being presented as an either/or choice already, as if the turn-based strategy genre is so massively congested that we're forcibly drained of money by the excellent variety of games on offer. I'm fairly sure, even in these hard times, we can stretch to two or three good games.

[Hobbes]

But it never was. Check out the last X-Com game you played versus the actual last global conflict we had (and bear in mind, that would be when we were fighting ourselves, not an external threat, where we would potentially summon up even more numbers). It's not total war, it's a kind of massive guerrilla campaign, with the aliens striking worldwide, trying to subvert countries and establish bases, and X-Com trying to foil them, not with battalions and divisions, but with the very best troops available, the best of the special forces from across the globe.

 

 

 

Thought I read it somewhere in the early GI stuff? Small team, 5-6 at most?

 

The reduction in the amount of troops is a bit shit, not because it's an overall reduction in numbers, but because it's forced on the player.

 

As for Xenonauts and other games, it's kind of amusing that it's being presented as an either/or choice already, as if the turn-based strategy genre is so massively congested that we're forcibly drained of money by the excellent variety of games on offer. I'm fairly sure, even in these hard times, we can stretch to two or three good games.

 

The latest word on the 2K forums comes from an article on a German magazine and translated it states that the player will be able to control a team(s) up to 6 soldiers. The interesting bit is teams being mentioned in plural, although that just might mean that you'll be able to increase the squad limit up 12 (Lighting?) or maybe even 18 (Avenger?)

 

And btw, Game Informer is asking players for questions to ask the developers on their next podcast.

[CapnKill]

Do we know when the next pod cast is?

[Space Voyager]

As far as war on global scale goes UFO Aftermath got it best IMO, where you could get local militia to aid you. This could even justify small squads - if your organization would be merely leading the global fight, coordinating the actions. An example; you get a mission and an estimated number of local troops to be led by you. Perhaps even some info on their armament. So your own soldiers would be there as commanders and most valuable troops.

 

Local troops give an idea on global fight and X-COM is in charge of dealing with alien incursion.