Current Events > Starting XCom Enemy Unknown (PC). Advice/tips?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've played about 2 hours. I'm doing the base game on easy, then I'll try the full/DLC game (Enemy Within) on medium difficulty

Just getting used to it for now. Learning the menu, mechanics
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How upset would you say you would get if your sniper missed on a shot that had a 95% success rate?

ocelot51 posted...

How upset would you say you would get if your sniper missed on a shot that had a 95% success rate?

I just missed one on 85%, lol
It was not a big deal, still escaped unkilled
Very mad, if it had "mattered"
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I need to try to play that again. years ago I did a Ironman run of it, and I almost finished it but on one of the final scripted battles, (pretty sure I was almost done with the story) the game glitched and ruined my save. it got stuck in a loop. during an Alien Turn, the game got stuck and couldn't have the aliens finish their movements. and everytime I reloaded it just started on that stuck Alien Turn. and I could do nothing to fix it.

this was back when the game was full of glitches. I think it's better now

Always end a turn in cover, only push forward at the beginning of your turn so as to not trigger an enemy group right as your turn ends. Also, destroying enemies cover is a great tactic.
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Snipers with squad sight are OP as fuck
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XCOM is all about mitigating the impact of the RNG. Engage alien pods on your terms and do everything you can to ensure they never get to attack you. Each soldier can move twice in a turn for example, but there is rarely ever any reason to dash. For most missions you can go at a very slow pace, moving and then overwatching.

Grenades are a very important item early on. Not only do they destroy cover, but they deal guaranteed damage. Your gun can miss and deal variable damage, but a grenade will never miss and deals a fixed amount of damage every time. This means if you're ever in a scenario where all your soldiers fail to connect a shot, you can clean it up with a grenade. You generally want to avoid getting kills with a grenade if possible only because you lose out on Weapon Fragments. But if your soldiers are at risk of being shot if the alien survives your turn, use that grenade. Rockets are similar to grenades, but they actually can miss. Just not often. And on the lower difficulties this doesn't really matter as much because the game cheats in your favor. But it's a good habit to get into and might help if you really do get into trouble.
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always leave your soldier in cover. even better if in full cover and reaction shots or whatever theyre called.

shotgun folk were my rushing units and scouts.

snipers covered my front line and scouts.

i later missions i spread every soldier and had them sweep and cover each other. saved a lot of civilians but often got someone killed.

used snipers as my agents.

saved scum to get general layout of map and enemy locations
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build up a sneaky sniper character to support your squad. they will be the MVP most missions
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What's the highest difficulty you can do?

Easy, normal, classic, impossible
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Impossible of course.
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GeneralKenobi85 posted...

Impossible of course.

so it was possible? x_x
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- Take a bit of time to come up with a rough plan for your base before building things....grouping components together (power, uplinks, labs, etc) usually gives you a significant bonus.

- Research Weapon Fragments ASAP. If you don't have laser weapons by your first Terror Mission you're going to have a real bad time on harder difficulties

- Get as many sat uplinks going as possible, as quickly as possible. Happy countries = more money. More money = cool toys

- Save explosives as a last resort. Blowing the hell out of aliens is really effective, but not getting any salvage is really going to hurt in the long run.
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Well I got fucked up for the first time
Abduction was available in 3 places
Panic was already high in Germany, so I chose that one, despite it says "very difficult"
Lost 4 of 6
Was that imperative? Taking the risk so Germany doesn't quit the XCom program? That's how you lose the game, right?
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SideshowBob311 posted...

- Take a bit of time to come up with a rough plan for your base before building things....grouping components together (power, uplinks, labs, etc) usually gives you a significant bonus.

- Research Weapon Fragments ASAP. If you don't have laser weapons by your first Terror Mission you're going to have a real bad time on harder difficulties

- Get as many sat uplinks going as possible, as quickly as possible. Happy countries = more money. More money = cool toys

- Save explosives as a last resort. Blowing the hell out of aliens is really effective, but not getting any salvage is really going to hurt in the long run.

Yeah, definitely want to do that. Armor helps too, but mostly you want to be able reliably kill things dead fast because chrysalids are the goddamned worst and one chrysalid kill snowballs into a squad-wipe in the blink of an eye.

Your going to lose your first time. Just learn from your mistakes. You can afford to lose 1 or 2.

Look up sat rush strategies if you want to make things a bit easier on easy
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What's the best way to avoid panic, other than going there during abductions?

3 countries are flipping out, but I never had any chance to help them! (at least not all of them at once)
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I think I built uplinks too slowly
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TroutPaste posted...

I think I built uplinks too slowly

yeah, you should be building like 1 a month minimum, 2 if you can afford it.

TroutPaste posted...

What's the highest difficulty you can do?

Easy, normal, classic, impossible

Normal with Ironman mode. I've tried classic ironman mode, but it kept kicking my ass. Something about xcom makes me not want to play it without doing it on ironman mode.
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TroutPaste posted...

What's the best way to avoid panic, other than going there during abductions?

3 countries are flipping out, but I never had any chance to help them! (at least not all of them at once)

Satellites will lower panic. Sometimes it is best to not put them up until the country gets near critical. And since this is your first time, you won't be able to save everybody. Pick a continent or two to focus on and screw the rest of the world.

And it has been awhile, but I believe there will be a random country that will leave no matter what you do, story being their government has already been taken over.
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Thanks for all the help so far
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TroutPaste posted...

I think I built uplinks too slowly

If this is your first playthrough, I guarantee you built uplinks too slowly. With the power constraints, cost and build time, you really need to start on uplinks immediately. Grouping your uplink and power rooms together in your base to get the bonuses really helps matters too.

As far as panic...it's already been pointed out in here. You can lose, I think, 8 countries before you lose the game, so you're NOT going to hold on to everybody. Decide which continent bonuses you think are the most important and focus on protecting those countries. Beyond that, prioritize the higher funding countries. Sorry Egypt, if you didn't want to get eaten by Mutons maybe you should have contributed more than $70.
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When you start a level, you can use mouselook to get a feel for the layout of the map, and also what direction you are likely to find enemies.

Build a diverse team, even if you are running a squad of 6, try to have as little overlap as you can.

Research into laser weapons.

A sniper with squadsight is broken as fuck: shooting costs both action points for a sniper, so you can't move and shoot. By eliminating (or close to) the need to move, your sniper becomes that much more useful, and means the are generally safe.

Always end your turn with your squad in half cover at the very least.

Never rush, never assume you can just walk up to the last target, there could always be more hiding in the fog. Always take your time.

Sometimes blowing up enemy cover is more valuable than doing damage.
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First time I've been excited to play a single player game... in awhile
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bump
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TroutPaste posted...

bump

So how did your first few missions go?
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Nazanir posted...

TroutPaste posted...

bump

So how did your first few missions go?

Hit or miss
I'm getting the hang of it, but I still make stupid mistakes.
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TroutPaste posted...

Nazanir posted...

TroutPaste posted...

bump

So how did your first few missions go?

Hit or miss
I'm getting the hang of it, but I still make stupid mistakes.

Early game, grenades are actually your best friend. They deal reliable damage and most enemies nave 3 health (some 4), so if you can take out 2 (or more, even better) with a single grenade, go for it. It will also do wonders leveling your soldiers up.
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How many hours have you put into this?
Is XCom 2 as good or better?
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one time, my game glitched so that one of those super death robots spawned in the middle of my group of units.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/167031150594448121/CF50AB50E6ED31DEA410F4B9F666A7277EB2D9D2/
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bump
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ROBANN_88 posted...

one time, my game glitched so that one of those super death robots spawned in the middle of my group of units.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/167031150594448121/CF50AB50E6ED31DEA410F4B9F666A7277EB2D9D2/

lol damnn
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Be patient. Don't be afraid to overuse Overwatch.
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is enemy unknown easier than within
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SSJGrimReaper posted...

is enemy unknown easier than within

Enemy Within is just an add-on to vanilla XCOM enemy unknown. It adds two soldier specialization types, some gear, and two different multi-mission side-arcs.
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Satellites

all of em
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SSJGrimReaper posted...

is enemy unknown easier than within

And part of that is how broken/good Squad Sight is for snipers in EU. If you're really cheeky you start your turn before making contact with your sniper(s) on Overwatch. That way they can take a shot at the aliens before the latter can take cover.

Also, because you don't have a turn limit in most battles, it's a good idea to NEVER cross open territory in the middle of a turn. Stack people up on one side, pass the turn on Overwatch, and then start your next turn using Run and Gun on an Assault to cross the distance. That way if you activate any alien patrols you have your whole squad to deal with them.
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Just watch this video from this timestamp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEb_1JCu_-g" data-time="&start=779

how mad does this make you just watching

this will be your experience
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TroutPaste posted...

How many hours have you put into this?
Is XCom 2 as good or better?

I e got hundreds of hours in 2, it's so much better. Removes the satellite mechanic and country management of 1.

If you get it though you need War of the Chosen from start. There's so much content and it completely changes the beginning of the game, so you'd have to start a new game if you decided to play the expansion later on.

The other two dlc are more traditional, in that they give a mission each and some armor and a mech class.
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I think XCOM 2 is a better game, but it's really up to you decide. XCOM 2 does introduce more frequent timed missions, which is something a lot of people took issue with. And then there's the whole setting and feel of the game. I think a lot of people found that more appealing in the first one.
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Removal of the satellites sounds nice.

I'm going to enjoy 1 for awhile, though
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GeneralKenobi85 posted...

I think XCOM 2 is a better game, but it's really up to you decide. XCOM 2 does introduce more frequent timed missions, which is something a lot of people took issue with. And then there's the whole setting and feel of the game. I think a lot of people found that more appealing in the first one.

Personally I love that Xcom 2 is an uphill battle, the doomsday clock helps with that feeling, but I never felt rushed by it, there are so many ways to delay it.

As for TC, don't try to keep every country, especially on your first playthrough. You are going to lose a few, better to focus on a couple and get proper "gear": sattelites and jets.
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