Because no one uses the Other Games Forum: X-COM

[MRT144]

Not often enough... I tend to try and reach good cover on each move, but of course that's not always possible. And sometimes you have to dash, so you are stuck.

How much does cover that you aren't next to help? Like if you're on tile 1, and in front of you is cover, and three tiles to your right is cover, say a pickup truck (would be full cover if you were next to it). Are you protected from someone who is 8-9 tiles away (assuming they don't or can't move up)? Are you covered from straight line attacks but not from slight diagonals?

adjacent cover doesnt help your over ratings (-20% for half, -40% for full to enemy aim) at all but may assist in the LOS. It's highly dependent on the position of the enemy. LOS works on cat logic. If I cant see you, you can't see me. As for your specific example, it would really depend on enemy position relative to you. I would need an in game example to really be clear.

How often are you using overwatch and suppression?

Almost any turn you can end in overwatch, you should end in overwatch, unless ammo is a concern.

Also, I've changed my mind about team composition:

1 sniper, 2 assaults, 2 heavies, 1 support. Assaults are really really good once they get lightning reflexes and can basically laugh at fools overwatch.


And finally I would say "Don't trust corners". If your choices are finish a move on a corner in overwatch, or one tile behind, I would finish 1 tile behind, put in overwatch, then next turn move to the corner and evaluate.

[MRT144]

how often are you using grenades?

[Al B. Sure!]

Has anyone ever bugged out and evacuated their men when a mission went to hell?

Yes. It's the only way I had survivors a few times. I've also had failed retreats where my guys get killed.

One mission with zombies, as soon as two of my guys went down early, I sent the remaining two back. We lost 2 men and only 1 dead alien to show for it.

[Al B. Sure!]

how often are you using grenades?

I used them heavily at first but stopped equipping them in favor of microfiber vests.

I don't even have carapace armor yet

[snoopy369]

I use grenades a lot. Over watch almost all the time, that I learned early. I do use corners too much, probably.

Six I have barely had - only briefly in one game. Five sometimes, but I rarely have more than five non-rookies to have choice of composition...

[Guynemer]

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself, but I just took my squad of sargeants, corporals, and squaddies into a goddamned battleship, against a total of 23 aliens (including just about every variety other than heavy floaters), and I emerged not only victorious, not only with all six members alive, but with none of them even injured. It finished with a cat and mouse game with a sectopod, trying to get my sniper in a position to take it down without exposing her or the rest of the team, ultimately requiring one heavy to use holotargeting, another heavy to soften it up (with a lucky 53% shot), and my sniper finishing the job with a crit.

Things may not be utterly hopeless.

Oddly, I did run into my first true bug this mission, where the game hung a couple times on Alien Activity, and a chryssalid killed on a reaction shot still being animated as if it were alive, but clearly being dead.

[Al B. Sure!]

I've had 3 freezes so far on the xbox version. I also had a weird bug in the tutorial early-game where I got stuck in the game and had to make a new game.


By the way, anyone else naming your squad after friends and giving them their likenesses? I even posted some of them on facebook and described how they died. My one friend got a kick out of the fact that he died covered in poison and blasted by a plasma gun while trying to capture an alien alive.

Yes I took pictures with my phone and tagged friends with their XCOM avatars

[snoopy369]

My guys don't survive long enough to justify names...

[Guynemer]

Against all odds, I have cobbled together a squad of a colonel sniper, a major heavy, a major psi assault, a captain psi assault, a captain assault, and a lieutenant heavy.

The only problem is every time I leave one of my assaults home to bring in a support, the support gets slaughtered.

If I can get one of my psi assaults up to colonel, I may give the Gollop Chamber a go even without a support.

[Snotty]

I had a really good run on classic tonight. I started my squad by keeping the heavy and support, and cycling new rookies into the other slots until I had 3 heavies and 1 support. I always scouted with the rookies, and had the first pair of specialists look after each other. By the time I had 3 heavies I was unlocking extra squad slots, which I filled with rookies or assault, to fulfill the same role as before. The Heavies made liberal use of their rockets, weapon fragments be damned. I beelined to heavy laser after carapace, as I think I will be using that laser for a while. My first Heavy just hit max level, and my team are at least all captains, with a few ranked soldiers in reserve. This is easily my best classic run to date!

[snoopy369]

Nice. You find lasers useful? Also, I have no idea what I would do without my sniper - usually my highest level guy and longest surviving, not to mention often the most dangerous... Though 3 heavies means 3 rockets (6 w/shredder) which could be nice if I didn't mind losing most of the stuff...

[MRT144]

Lasers are useful, but honestly, you gotta capture some aliens and get plasma going stat.

[kentonio]

Yeah, plasmas the first time you really get an even playing field with the heavy alien stuff.

[Guynemer]

I completely ignored laser in my current Lazarus playthrough. I honestly did not research beam weapons until there was nothing left to research.

[kentonio]

How did you survive Mutons with only normal level weapons?