Xcom, very late to the party

[Alinestra Covelia]

About $5.

[Alinestra Covelia]

But you can get a pack of four X-COM games for something like $16.

[Jon Miller]

Are the others worth it? I am also concerned I will get this and decide it isn't that great (although it is in memory).

JM

[El_Cid]

your millage may vary re the other games in the franchise:

Xcom1(Ufo-Defense/Ufo-enemy unknown) as it is called is the crown jewel of the series. tough turnbased, squad based battles with a cool mission of discovery. Old school in many ways(difficulty/UI) but a lot of game for your money.

Xcom2(Terror from the Deep) is exactly the same game but set underwater, with underwater tech etc. Graphicaly it is exactly the same, but i think looks worse than the original due to choice of colour schemes and maybe some of the art direction? It's about 10 times as hard as Xcom1 as well, with some really brutal alien encounters(if you thought those hard Xcom missions were tough!! boy surprise time!).

Apocolypse - went psudo turnbased and the graphics had a complete overhaul, as well as the game. Instead of fighting across(and off!) the whole world, you now are focused in on a large city area that all the game takes place within. Very retro american 50's look to the artwork(think old chrome chevy's etc). Not as tough as the previous two games, but it somehow doesn't have the same charcter about it either.

then you have some 3D shooters, one where you play the role of one of the attack(incerceptors) craft from the first games, and get to intercept and shoot down the alien space craft in real time. And another 3D shooter where you play a lone Xcom trooper and blast aliens and pickup weapon upgrades etc.

They are probably worth a look at just for the histroy lesson(and a lesson in how to kill a fantastic franchise ), but if you want to pick the best then stick with the first three games(Xcom1/Xcom2/Apocolypse), and of those the first is the best overall.

@ Dis, go here and get the 'turbo' slow down utility:

http://www.xcomufo.com/x1dl.html

it's simple to use, and free and might help you out - come join the fun(well horror really)

and for those inclined to like these things(i can sometimes) - check out a collection of varying fan-fiction stories inspired by the game:

http://www.xcomufo.com/stories.html

[Dis]

$5 ain't bad. I suppose I should pay for seeing as I never paid for the original. But I doubt the developer/publisher is getting any money at this point, are they? microprose has been out of action for years. Ya the original you could copy onto floppy disks. You just needed to write down the codes that were in the manual, as they ask you a question in the beginning requiring you to type in a code.

[Father Beast]

damn I want to play now . Don't think I have a rig slow enough for this. I think the slowest rig I have that can works is 700 mghz.

I have been using the version I got free from the PC Gamer CD some years ago. it's a windows (?!?) version that doesn't have the speed problems, or doesn't on Win98.

[Dis]

ok got this thing running with steam. speed doesn't seem bad yet, but we'll see.

now if i remember what to do lol. Good thing I'm on beginner. K built a base in the U.S. of course. This time i put it down in Florida, I'm not sure if the large radar can see Brazil, but we'll see. Just purchased second base in southern russia, hopefully I can get some China coverage along with UK.

now I'm kinda lost what to buy lol. I'll figure it out I suppose.

edit: now I can't get full screen back after I windows keyed out. hmmm. I also had to adjust my monitor because part of the screen was too low, and I couldn't adjust the globe.

[Dis]

I have been using the version I got free from the PC Gamer CD some years ago. it's a windows (?!?) version that doesn't have the speed problems, or doesn't on Win98.

**** I think I have this on one of my CGW disks, oh well, just spent $5 for it. bout the price of a beer, so that's not too bad.

[DrSpike]

Apocalypse is pretty good if you can't take the graphics of the original game. I wouldn't play any of the others though.

[Dis]

forgot how hard this game is lol. I'm doing ok on beginner, but I expected to be doing much better.

Oh and don't accidently click the rocket launcher launch icon next to your feet lol. I meant to right click to get rid of targetting icon into movement icon. Oh well, lost a good heavy weapons sniper.

My main issue right now is money. How do I make it lol. Right now I'm making laser rifles. But what's the best thing to make?

Stupid India pulled out. They had like 2 larges and 1 extra large ufo land, how can I handle all that? I managed to take out 1 large in India, and one small in the middle east simultaneously, but there's no way I can handle that much combat at the same time. My troops take alot of losses.

Just finished up march. I think I researched sectoid corpse too early, now I get the lizard alien dudes and the ones that turn your guys into aliens now. I was getting them in feburary. They are hard to kill with rifles. Though some of my guys have plasma rifles now, but still running low on ammo for those. Almost done researching heavy plasma. I keep forgetting to equip laser rifles on my skyranger, I'll remember to do that. I've been selling them trying to keep funds up.

Oh and I had to reload after trying a terror mission in Brazil in Feburary. How can I possibly win that? Terror mission so early on beginner- sigh. Which leads to another question. Is the tank worth it? Can I equip the tank into the skyranger and use that for terror missions? I don't think I really need the tank for standard ones. But that terror ones have those flying saucer things that are hard to kill. And lots of things that cause your guys to panic. I wasn't doing too bad, but a bad string of deaths, and everyone panic'd.

[El_Cid]

hi dis,

yeah the game is pretty tough, even on the lowest difficulty. Still it doesn't help if you blow yourself up!! I still do it on occasions, when the pressure is on lol - right click as soon as you have made your shot, that clears the targeting scope.

manufacture medikits pretty much all the time(when not making something vital for your team) to keep a bit of extra money coming in. Your second base in best built in the second payment period for Xcom - you can stretch to two bases right of the bat, but even if you just go for an access shaft+radar(so a listening post bascialy) you will find money short in the first month, especialy if having to buy more troops.

Don't worry about people pulling out or dropping funding. At game start you can't keep everyone happy - you are just too small to cover everywhere. Later in the game you can get people back on side.

Which aliens you come across does seem to vary - like often it's just greys for a while, but in this current game my second ufo crash site was floaters and my third was lizardmen - i hadn't researched any aliens at that point. So i think there is some element of randomization to encounters.

Terror mission are nasty - the worst, but some you just have to do to avoid the drop in relations. early in the game i dont worry about terror attacks really far away or from members that pay the least to Xcom. Tanks are great bits of kit for scouting ahead and finding where the aliens are, in terror and normal mission. You can fit one tank+10men in a skyranger, and i would suggest you get one. Tank - rocket launcher is most effective at game start, but i oftne end up with tank - laser(you have to research it) to avoid ammo issues.

Tough game for sure. Are you up to it - can you save the earth from the alien menace?

[Spaced Cowboy]

So did everyone give up already?

[El_Cid]

No still going

[Alinestra Covelia]

I'm taking a break for now. Got a new Vista computer to set up, an old Linux computer to streamline, and a bar exam to apply for. :l

[Dis]

I really only have time to play on the weekends. I'll play some today. I'm still not sure if I'll go with a tank. I like to improve my troops. but then again, there are only so many promotions you can get (based on the total number of troops). Your skills don't raise unless they go up in rank. But you pretty much need a tank on the aliens who cause panic/bezerk in your troops I think. That's what I needed on that terror mission.