is there an XCOM thread?

youve grown so insightful

ufo defense is a dope game btw but nhex is right - its crazy hard at first

so not who i expected to start this thread

interesting that in er rebelstar tactical command GBA which is more or less just a series of x com combat missions they take, like, eight missions to explain how the battle system works

http://gbamedia.gamespy.com/gba/image/article/619/619957/irebelstar-tactical-commandi-dev-diary-1-20050527112043585-000.jpg

ufo defense is kind of that unfriendly bcz you're basically just dumped in it with a completely incomprehensible interface with like thirty buttons on it and you spend the first three missions leaving yr doods outside doors at the end of yr turn and watching the same alien come out and shoot them

i'd love a .gif of that actually

Keep meaning to grab that one but I always forget about it. Weird how the whole overworld/strategy base element was something that was never part of the Gallops' vision of X-Com, introduced by the publisher (and it's never shown up again in their games before or since) but I think it's really essential to the formula.

just beat this on beginner (out of the following settings):

1) beginner
2) experienced
3) veteran
4) genius
5) superhuman

gonna try it on veteran now, i think. ended up being a lot easier than i thought, but again - beginner. also, most engrossed i've been by a game since i was obsessed w/fallout a lil while back. i don't have as much to say about it though - the squad based gameplay reminds me of cannon fodder (lol)

jeez, you really have been doing nothing else, have you. did you go to gamefaqs at any point or manage to finish it in a fortnight on your own?

this was always on my meant to play list too.

on my own, i'm not sure there's much i could get out of the walkthroughs anyway (tho i did check its listing on gamefaqs, surprisingly sparse)

It's probably best that way - figuring out what weapons work, what to sell or research is definitely fun, if quite punishing when you get it wrong (especially if you're six months in and getting your bases attacked every week).

Julian Gallop is making a turn-based strategy game that's going to be a 3DS launch title:

Publishers run a mile from anything with turn-based mechanics - it is regarded as too niche. RTS games pretty much killed off turn-based strategy games in the mid-90s - but now even RTS games are regarded as niche. So all my experience working turn-based games from 1983-1997 is now somewhat obsolete, despite the success of X-Com. However, I am now working on a turn-based tactical RPG which will be a 3DS launch title. Thanks to 'Advance Wars', 'Fire Emblem' and 'Final Fantasy Tactics' it seems turn-based games are not totally dead - at least for Nintendo handhelds. I would also argue that Pokemon has a lot of parallels with X-Com in its game system, despite being classified as an 'RPG'. The core of Pokemon is a turn-based tactical battle enriched by a sophisticated higher level meta-game that allows players to experiment with many game elements and combinations of forces - and Pokemon is the second most successful game franchise in the world. If done right, would an X-Com game with a turn-based combat system be successful? Absolutely!

gonna try it on veteran now, i think.

Didn't this game have a notorious bug that always converted your save games to Beginner mode? How did that replay go?

on my own, i'm not sure there's much i could get out of the walkthroughs anyway (tho i did check its listing on gamefaqs, surprisingly sparse)

― FUCKIN 'TALLICA BRO (cankles), Tuesday, July 7, 2009 8:01 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ha when i played this i was wed to the official strategy guide (came in the box)

reviving because i'm annoyed i forgot to buy the complete x-com pack during the steam sale

was looking forward to playing apocalypse again, which is a totally underrated and kind of neat game

- the shift from post-communion aliens/military sf to 50s b-movie monsters/jetson future-environments looks like a better idea now than it did
- likewise it's easier to forgive the graphics now they aren't meant to be the graphics for, like, an actual new game, ha
- i think every sprite in this game does a good job of depicting whatever essential attribute/feeling you end up associating with seeing that creature. at least the essential OH SHIT reactions one gets from the two-frame animations of the brainsuckers in the early game or the exploding dogs in the mid game really work, so something must have gone right
- the research tree is an interesting choice. the new aliens use a lot of organic tech so rather than looking at alien weapons and waiting to steal them what you do is research all the alien life cycle stages to develop toxin weapons
- having the little PEW PEW toxin guns melt off their damn alien faces at the halfway point when you finally catch up on tech is really, really satisfying

i think i stopped playing it when i realised that the city factions were kind of broken and pointless: though they were at least A Good Idea. the geopolitical aspect of the first two was kind of lacking, after all. FRANCE IS PLEASED WITH YOUR PERFORMANCE. GERMANY IS DISPLEASED WITH YOUR PERFORMANCE AND HAS REDUCED YOUR FUNDING. (there was a flash game i played, and a sequel to it, where you controlled the mutations of a virus, trying to cause a pandemic and exterminate humanity. the second game boasted it had 'more realistic' politics, human actions, etc. i lost in my first playthrough because a region they had arbitrarily designated 'The Middle East' had closed its borders. oops)

also the endgame missions were kind of ... suddenly the game was a lot less reactive. that said, it was a smart idea to develop an endgame campaign rather than a Final Mission, those were done. (i never got to the Final Mission on terror from the deep, actually.) (actually, i never even beat an alien base on terror from the deep, because god they were annoying.)

i still can't decide if terror from the deep was a series of design choices made to make the game difficult and frustrating (interesting sequel design route: good work on the marathon! our new game is an ultramarathon and also we are going to break your ankles with this hammer) -- or whether the dev team just really, really didn't understand the logic of the first game

because no one posted on this thread i spent like two hours today looking at x-com let's plays

oh would you look at that

http://store.steampowered.com/sub/964/
http://www.gamersgate.co.uk/DDB-XCOM/x-com-complete-pack-bundle

rock paper shotgun notes "You probably don't want Enforcer or Interceptor"

wait

what?

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/01/05/february-cover-revealed-xcom-enemy-unknown.aspx

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/01/06/the-new-xcom-my-needy-little-wishlist/#more-87746

bit of a non-article really but

5) Destructible environments, but more so. It’s something the unofficial sequels never pulled off, but it’s an essential part of X-COM. Not just as a feature, but also as part of building the sense that X-COM are a taskforce with free reign – respect for civilian property doesn’t stand in the way of hunting aliens. I wouldn’t seeing property damage contribute to funding level assessments, though: international funding’s an aspect of the game that could stand to be fleshed out.

13) Minimal story and exposition. Everything that needs to be told can come from Researching alien items and lifeforms to study and act upon at my leisure. I don’t need a big cutscene explaining what and where Cydonia is, I just want a brief message saying that flying there is now possible.

i think it's really interesting how much the player's narrativization of the experience is a big part of the first three games: but also just how contingent that was on the narrative and the world being the least developed part of the game (it being something the gollops were pushed to add by microprose, & that they've never done in another game; also one that's only given the basic level of features, and that other ideas they had (you were going to be also commanding intelligence aspects beyond 'an alien base has been discovered!') were omitted from

also, i bought the first game and apocalypse. again.

I have hilarious memories of quitting and restarting from a save every time I lost a soldier in xcom (which happened like 90 billion times) because starting off fresh with a new rookie solider was a terrible thought.. damn I loved xcom..

Ok, this series of interviews has got me decently hyped
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/01/xcom-enemy-unknown-preview/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/02/firaxis-xcom-preview/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/03/time-for-a-change-firaxis-on-xcom-part-3/

Neat!

been thinking of replaying xcom lately!

im more interested in xenonauts (http://www.xenonauts.com/) than the firaxis xcom, but i got some cautious optimism goin on with the latter. the xcom shooter will of course be an unspeakable abomination

the lead developer on the firaxis one seems like a mensch

the lead developer on the firaxis one seems like a mensch

yeah he really seems like he 'gets it'

also:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/images/12/jan/xgeo.jpg

yeeeeaaaaaaaahh

i mean it's pretty rare for me to be hyped about a videogame, i suppose i should try and get hyped about one that's not a remake

as long as the combat is turn-based i would probably enjoy it, but they do appear to be making a real xcom game. its exciting though i keep having to remember to maintain proper jadedness levels

they did remove time units, and you're restricted to basically two actions per soldier per turn, which sounds somewhat radical

still, i got a very good vibe from those interviews

Wow, had no idea a new one was in the works! That's nuts!

Past X-Com discussion - -

1993 VIDEO GAMES
1994 VIDEO GAMES POLL (yes it's in both, somehow)
and a little bit here un-retired

been browsing thru videos about the firaxis remake. am now recklessly confident in it from what i have seen and heard. this is going to fucking rule.

ufo defense is kind of that unfriendly bcz you're basically just dumped in it with a completely incomprehensible interface with like thirty buttons on it and you spend the first three missions leaving yr doods outside doors at the end of yr turn and watching the same alien come out and shoot them

RTFM

good shit here, comes w/ free x-com demo

http://boxerapp.com/

they added MT-32 support to Boxer? cooooool.

RTFM

my copy didn't come with the manual!

though to be fair it did come with the 400 page strategy guide but that seemed kind of a heavy investment, time-wise

http://www.xcomufo.com/x1manual.pdf

133 pages!

RTBFM

the tutorial in there basically just shows you exactly how to end up in the situation i described. there is a note on the importance of opportunity fire on p96, i suppose.

october 9th for new one.

so weird - so it's actually coming out way before the FPS reboot, which got pushed to next year

i got TFTD going on my MBP but it was much more boring than i remember, also the scrolling and animations were too fast or too slow on any cpu setting

that fps reboot is going to be a steaming pile of shit.. or vaporware.

the firaxis game looks like the bees knees tho.. not sure how I will be able to get my hands on it as I am a mac user, but firaxis is somewhat mac friendly so I have my fingers crossed.

is x-com: apocalypse any good? enforcer and interceptor look rather weak and i can't get enemy unknown working on my mbp

I have a pretty weak ass old imac so I assume I cant play u_u

― carthago delenda est (mayor jingleberries), Tuesday, February 2, 2016 10:58 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah hoping for a demo just so i can confirm it works on a laptop that's, like, par at best for 1, before i throw money at them

Minimum specs aren't that bad. 2.4gz, 4g ram, Nvidia 650 or better. It'd be the video card that'd be the barrier.

ha, that's exactly what i have, but a crappier video card, i think. not the game's fault, considering my iMac is eight (godforsaken!) years old now

wow i can't believe you kept your mac alive for eight years

easy when you're cheap, foolish and stubborn

NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M?!?

lots of performance issues according to steam forum

i'm just going to pretend it doesn't work, i don't really want to spend that much anyway

It's a 2K game, so it'll heavily discounted soon enough. I never even got around to Enemy Within, anyway...

Fuck it, let's do this.

Dealzon has links to like ~25% off, with a slightly better discount for UK/EU sites.

http://www.dealzon.com/deals/cheap-xcom-2#xcom-2

Is there an easy way to share squaddie builds yet? Are we all on the ILX steam group?

Interesting set-up so far. Graphics are hitching during the cinematics, but okay during fights. Little delay in the scripting after alien activity before they shift it back to your turn. If this thing has gamepad controls, they're pretty limited so far.

Cover factors include not just distance and half/full blocking, but elevation too.

this is just about running at min settings on my 13in mid-2014 Macbook Pro. I get warnings about being sub-minimum spec (I think the graphics card is the weak link), but it lets you click continue. Long load times and it stalls when campbell tries to tell you things during missions, but first couple of maps have been comfortably playable.

bradford not campbell i mean

There must be optimization problems in this build or something. It runs like ass on my 3.3gz i5, 24gb ram, Radeon R9/2gb. All hinky even at low settings and resolution.

man i hope this doesn't hurt them. seems a massive oversight, though: i don't think xcom players, on average, are really the gotta-have-the-newest-graphics type

I was thinking "ok, I'm getting by, it's basically working, and I'm happy enough to be getting MORE XCOM on my just-under-the-bar laptop", but once I saw just how many problems there are, on machines that are >>>recommended spec… I think maybe do not touch this till it is fixed.

going to play it now though, it's such fun

Bradford should be played by Nick Kroll with a little too much eye-liner

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CSlk8ITU8AAKk0g.jpg:large

Also, for those who want a little preview gameplay footage:

https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video/CaerqUdUUAAa1yW.mp4

I turned off action cam, vsync, dropped down shadow and AA effect, then forced them on with the graphics card app. Better.

Game still hard as shit. Thinking about dropping this down to easy for the 1st playthru.

I had a quick try at it and lost on the first (non-tutorial) mission.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Xcom/comments/44b7pf/xcom_2_tips_megathread/

Wow, these are good. Flashbang a sectoid to kill its psionic controls, aggro a patrol squad before you get too far in and wind up getting caught between squads afore & behind you, etc.

http://www.gamepur.com/guide/21988-xcom-2-pc-error-fix-fps-loss-save-game-location-cant-detect-4k-resolution.html

Ooo, how to speed up animations!

time management of base operations stress >>> combat stress

not sure there's a game I cuss out more while playing. missing multiple 80%+ shots unleashes my nerd rage.

during my playthrough of the 2012 x-com, i got so fed up with missing high percentage shots that i briefly maintained a spreadsheet where i recorded the predicted percentages vs the actual outcomes. it balanced out in the end. but yes, nerd raaaaaage

how does the new one compare to 2012 x-com?

i'm only a few hours in but its mostly the same aside from your base being busier/more complex. (there are likely more new aliens and tech I haven't got to.) my biggest complaint is that your base advisers won't stfu. No matter where you click they have some stupid comment or story.

if you were into the 2012 game, you'll easily like it.

I'm still only a few hours in, but, yeah, it's like the same but more so - more options, more stuff to do, more to research - biggest change to the feel is that most missions have some kind of timer, so slow-slow-slow overwatch play doesn't work.

You can click off the in-house radio chatter, I think. The option of "ambient dialogue" or sumthing in the options, isn't it.

Added the mod for facepaint last night, and sending out all my squaddies in Pris-style warpaint is strangely satisfying.

Game is MUCH harder this time round, it should be emphasized. I'm just now getting non-shite gear.

feel like they overdo the punishment of getting squad members injured. trying to get your best crew set up for a difficult mission is almost impossible b/c of that.

Has anybody tried the multiplayer yet?

This game is really hard. I was chugging along doing great, beautiful squad, nice gear, flawless victory on holding off an attempted invasion of the base. Then all of a sudden while everybody's celebrating I find I haven't done enough outreach and I have three fires to put out and absolutely there's no way I'll have enough healthy guys to answer the second or third one. I just tried and failed through seven reloads to keep my best sharpshooter, Glenn Danzig, from getting merked by that muton on what should have been a pretty easy mission. Aka, I'm fucking done! Considering eating about 6-7 hours of progress and going back to an early save. I <3 u xcom

btw the specialist and ranger classes are the greatest in this game. The ranger's free overwatch bladestorm perk, how awesome is that. Also the flash grenade is the most useful flash grenade in video game history

Confirming that ranger and specialist are OP. Sharpshooters have been pretty underwhelming.

Specialist on the support tree is a little OP, I agree. It kind of blows the whole medikit economy which contributed to so much fun tension in the last game. (Specialist on the offence/hacker tree is kind of boring so far.)

imo saying ranger is OP is being kind of hard on yourself given how tough this game is. It's a glass cannon. Given that the sharpshooter can't be used in the usual way on the timed boards and the grenadier is actually more of a support class than a tank I think the classes are pretty balanced.

something i noticed today is that my evening spent playing xcom 2 war of the chosen has really made me want to time-manage my own life way more effectively

https://www.polygon.com/2020/4/14/21219644/xcom-chimera-squad-release-date-price-pc

firaxis announced a new xcom game today; it comes out in less than two weeks and it's half price on steam right now and for the first week of launch. HM.

i mean, is this a total dog they're trying to offload, or did an internal team do something experimental and they realised they could monetize it, or what ...

someone take the plunge and tell us how it is!
it's a 2K game so i will just wait until it's bundled. i never got around to playing XCOM 2 anyway

i have some buds who will for sure jump in day 1, i'll report back

-- the opening cutscene has a weird energy--it's still image flash animation. no budget. mouths don't move when people talk.
-- but the game itself is ... a modern xcom game.
-- runs just about on my non-gaming laptop on the lower settings but i should probably get my gaming pc out.
-- the writing is less bad than the other modern xcom games.
-- the base stuff ... kind of less bad also?
-- changing to interlaced turns doesn't bother me because it seems very familiar from just playing octopath traveler.
-- even on hard nothing difficult in the first two missions, though i guess one of those was a tutorial.
-- i wonder if the ending is going to set up a modern xcom version of apocalypse.

isn't there some sort of deal with this new one where there's a set, limited selection of characters you can pick from, rather than endlessly regenerating/training new soldiers like the last few? maybe i made that up

no that’s the deal

and if anyone bleeds out you have to start the mission over, which saps the tension rather a lot.

also missions are series of discrete rooms. it’s almost arcade-y. into the breach just got a big update, i think after i get through chimera squad i will do another run at that. maybe invisible inc also.

this game has over 1300 discussion topics on its steam board

my friend i mentioned above is a fan fwiw. i am prob gonna get it

don't play it on ironman. it generated a mission it was legit impossible for me to win* which meant i was just in an eternal 'restart mission?' loop

* if enemies ended the turn on a particular set of squares the mission was failed, but i didn't have the item or character that would let me start the mission near it, my characters all started more than a turn away from being in LOS of the fail condition