I'm doing that as well, although I should have done satellites even earlier than I am because I've lost Germany and India.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
- Thread starter infinix
- Start date
I'm usually following a different route.. get as many satellites up early in the game (at least 5-6) and then produce some on stock so i can react to maximum panic levels in countries before the end of the month so as not to lose the country.
Moneywise it's only very tight in the beginning and you can always do some 200$ missions to get some cash. I also don't bother saving up alien bodies for aircraft boosts or anything else as it's not very effective. Sell them off for a tidy bonus.
This might change with the new game (and for me it's a new game with all the additions) because you apparently need the alien bodies for biotech and cyber upgrades over which i'm drooling to do so hard ( want my Terminator and Agent Neo squads dammit!)
Enemy Within will be so awesome.. they simply can't fail apart from totally fucking up the base program and making the game unplayable.
Yeah, same here. I did a load upfront to get certain bonuses, but made sure I left had some in reserve for maximum effect when the panic gets high. I'm not sure exactly how the panic mechanics work, so I was always afraid that if I got full coverage, I'd be stuck without a means to lower panic on a country that already had a satellite.
It never came to that as it turned out as even by the final mission I still had two countries with no coverage and something like 4 sats in reserve (I'd read somewhere they can be taken out.)
Yeah, I didn't bother with those until pretty late in the game where I had way more money than I needed. Never really used to robots either as they didn't seem worth the investment compared to a rookie. For starters they can't use cover or level up.
I actually thought it'd be better if instead of taking the place of a soldier, the drones could supplement the support and heavy classes. Like you assign one to a soldier with a specific perk, and they hunker down and remotely control it in the field. The trade off for the extra firepower would be that you can't move both in the same turn, but yo can leave the robot in overwatch to cover an exposed flank. Also, I imaging the remote control would have to take up one inventory slot.
Perhaps even make certain drones class specific? Say demolitions for the heavy and fire support for the support class? Hell, just the ability to give the drones different load outs would have been nice!
Actually, there is an advantage to getting full satellite coverage- the abductions stop. You'll still get terror and UFO missions, but the abduction missions (the main source of panic increases) can only happen in cities without satellite coverage. Now, your panic can still increase if you fail one of the remaining missions, but it's definitely beneficial to get everything covered.
^Good thing I didn't get full coverage then! By the end of the game I was so secure that I was intentionally prolonging the game just for fun. I even made a game out of trying to get the Valkyrie achievement...then when I got that I decided it'd be fun to have them be all psi-powered as well...then I went ahead until I had enough female psi colonels to outfit two full squads. Those abduction missions really helped with the grind. 
Patching/downloading it now through Steam...
Waiting for the postman to deliver mine
Edit:
It's here, it's installed... off i go!
2nd Edit:
First impression - brilliantly awesome. As i already knew you can build the new soldier types (Biological and Mechanised Supersoldiers) early on and i already have my first MEC Trooper inside a Mech Suit with an additional Flamethrower (that thing is awesome though naturally limited in range).
Have also upgraded my first soldier with biological augmentations giving him better eyes for better aim (i have used a Sniper as that seemed the best fit for this upgrade).
First new technologies have also appeared.. Flashbang Grenades that disorient every enemy who can see them and a new type of ammo that promises more damage at the cost of reduced range (perfect for Assault classes i believe).
Last thing which i didn't know is that you can now unlock Medals which you can give out once to any soldier for a one time bonus (you can also rename the Medal prior to the ceremony).
I've also not yet encountered an old map from the Enemy Unknown game and that's very refreshing because when you have played the same map for the xth time you more or less knew where enemies would appear so you could plan along. This may happen here too but from what i heard there's quite a bit more maps than in the old game so it will take longer.
Overall the game has increased the options tenfold and i've yet to see a drawback but one can't tell from two hour play as i'm very early in the game. Looking forward to the new Anti-XCOM fraction and all the new toys and upgrades i'll unlock on the way.
Definitely a very good Add On.. if it's one of the best remains to be seen but i'm positive.
Edit:
It's here, it's installed... off i go!
2nd Edit:
First impression - brilliantly awesome. As i already knew you can build the new soldier types (Biological and Mechanised Supersoldiers) early on and i already have my first MEC Trooper inside a Mech Suit with an additional Flamethrower (that thing is awesome though naturally limited in range).
Have also upgraded my first soldier with biological augmentations giving him better eyes for better aim (i have used a Sniper as that seemed the best fit for this upgrade).
First new technologies have also appeared.. Flashbang Grenades that disorient every enemy who can see them and a new type of ammo that promises more damage at the cost of reduced range (perfect for Assault classes i believe).
Last thing which i didn't know is that you can now unlock Medals which you can give out once to any soldier for a one time bonus (you can also rename the Medal prior to the ceremony).
I've also not yet encountered an old map from the Enemy Unknown game and that's very refreshing because when you have played the same map for the xth time you more or less knew where enemies would appear so you could plan along. This may happen here too but from what i heard there's quite a bit more maps than in the old game so it will take longer.
Overall the game has increased the options tenfold and i've yet to see a drawback but one can't tell from two hour play as i'm very early in the game. Looking forward to the new Anti-XCOM fraction and all the new toys and upgrades i'll unlock on the way.
Definitely a very good Add On.. if it's one of the best remains to be seen but i'm positive.
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I've enjoyed Enemy Within lots. They've made plenty of cool changes and the new features are great. I like the fact that they rebalanced the ability trees so that there are fewer clear-cut answers. With the exception of a couple spots in the first game, I knew exactly which abilities I wanted my soldiers to have. Now, there's a lot more tough choices.
I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't played it or heard about it, but the new Council Mission where you go to the fishing village is a bitch... with my Mec and her flamethrower still in sickbay, Run & Gun canceling out the new Close & Personal effect, and my heavy completely whiffing on a rocket fire, my entire squad was dead in two alien turns. This current gameplay (on Classic Impossible) may never recover from this round of devastation.
Initially, I thought Meld and the self-destruct timers was a little gimmicky, but it has grown on me. Definitely adds a new dimension of challenge to the game. A guy I follow on Youtube released this video of him falling into the ultimate Meld trap from hell...
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hlUM4VwLQzI[/yt]
I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't played it or heard about it, but the new Council Mission where you go to the fishing village is a bitch... with my Mec and her flamethrower still in sickbay, Run & Gun canceling out the new Close & Personal effect, and my heavy completely whiffing on a rocket fire, my entire squad was dead in two alien turns. This current gameplay (on Classic Impossible) may never recover from this round of devastation.
Initially, I thought Meld and the self-destruct timers was a little gimmicky, but it has grown on me. Definitely adds a new dimension of challenge to the game. A guy I follow on Youtube released this video of him falling into the ultimate Meld trap from hell...
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hlUM4VwLQzI[/yt]
Maybe it's the normal setting but i'm blowing through this game so easy it's really no challenge.
I haven't even done the first alien base mission and my guys nearly have levelled out (and i just researched laser weapons and have aquired Plasma Rifles from a stunned Muton).
My squad contains a (now) once upgraded MEC Trooper and 2 Gene Soldiers (one Sniper with enhanced Leg Muscles so he can jump high on obstacles to get a better view.. looks awesome when he leaps around) alongside normal Troopers.
What i have noticed is that the MEC seems inferior to troopers and Gene soldiers because the latter keeps the skills and gets the bonus from the enhancements. However the MEC can really take some punishment and is near indestructible in the early game so i used him often enough as the advance scout to spot the Aliens.
Maybe later in the game when Elite Mutons and the Alien Walker appear he will be sorely needed, let's see.
I've now encountered the Exalt group and have sent out my first agent to infiltrate them, really like this add on.
So far i'm having a blast discovering all this new stuff and i've still to encounter any of the old maps.
Well done Firaxis!
I haven't even done the first alien base mission and my guys nearly have levelled out (and i just researched laser weapons and have aquired Plasma Rifles from a stunned Muton).
My squad contains a (now) once upgraded MEC Trooper and 2 Gene Soldiers (one Sniper with enhanced Leg Muscles so he can jump high on obstacles to get a better view.. looks awesome when he leaps around) alongside normal Troopers.
What i have noticed is that the MEC seems inferior to troopers and Gene soldiers because the latter keeps the skills and gets the bonus from the enhancements. However the MEC can really take some punishment and is near indestructible in the early game so i used him often enough as the advance scout to spot the Aliens.
Maybe later in the game when Elite Mutons and the Alien Walker appear he will be sorely needed, let's see.
I've now encountered the Exalt group and have sent out my first agent to infiltrate them, really like this add on.
So far i'm having a blast discovering all this new stuff and i've still to encounter any of the old maps.
Well done Firaxis!
^I would guess it is the normal difficulty. I played a few hours on normal just to get a feel for the new stuff and blew right through it as well with nor casualties. Bumping that sucker up to Classic is where the real "fun" begins.
I'm not touching Classic with a ten foot pole right now.. it took me a good while and dozens of tries to get a good game going on where my soldiers actually had a chance.
Now with alien walkers, Exalt missions and that fishing village mission the controller might end up in the TV
Now with alien walkers, Exalt missions and that fishing village mission the controller might end up in the TV
I was surprised at how big of a leap it was between normal and classic. It took me 5 or 6 tries on Classic and lots of adjustments to my strategy to have a game where I didn't lose right away. Meld pretty much screws up the biggest improvement I made, which was moving my squad in a slow, compact group to avoid waking up every damn alien on the map.
As long as you spot the Meld and finish the mission before the timer runs out you will get all the Meld.
Having lots of fun the the new expansion, love both the mechs and the gene mods. Shivs are still pretty useless though. I'd hoped with the new focus on cybernetics they'd find a better way to implement them.
Like say a much trooper without the full battle suit can be paired up with a Shiv netting two soldiers for the price of one. The downside being that if the lightly armoured mechtrooper goes down, so does the Shiv.
I also like the addition of the new council missions that follow a narrative. It adds a nice bit of variety and combined with all the new maps makes the game far more re-playable.
The difficulty curve for the exalt missions felt a bit steep, but that's probably because on the first mission I didn't get that disrupting the beacons means they get fewer reinforcements. Lost three guys on that mission and the other two were nearly dead by the end!
Speaking of the covert missions, did anyone else train up a soldier exclusively to be the covert operative, or just pick whoever? I picked a sniper and gave her the cloaking gene mod and the super-jump. The combination of those plus the gunslinger talentand treating low cover as full means she can dash around the map totally unseen, or even just sit in the capture zone blocking the hack.
Like say a much trooper without the full battle suit can be paired up with a Shiv netting two soldiers for the price of one. The downside being that if the lightly armoured mechtrooper goes down, so does the Shiv.
I also like the addition of the new council missions that follow a narrative. It adds a nice bit of variety and combined with all the new maps makes the game far more re-playable.
The difficulty curve for the exalt missions felt a bit steep, but that's probably because on the first mission I didn't get that disrupting the beacons means they get fewer reinforcements. Lost three guys on that mission and the other two were nearly dead by the end!
Speaking of the covert missions, did anyone else train up a soldier exclusively to be the covert operative, or just pick whoever? I picked a sniper and gave her the cloaking gene mod and the super-jump. The combination of those plus the gunslinger talentand treating low cover as full means she can dash around the map totally unseen, or even just sit in the capture zone blocking the hack.
Is it just my imagination, or is the alien activity significantly more frequent in EW (at least at Classic and higher)? This is my second attempt at a Classic play through on EW and I just can't seem to get ahead. I'm getting abductions, UFO's, terror missions, and council missions every couple of days. Any time someone is sent to the infirmary (and I do mean literally any time), it is extremely rare that I don't go through at least 2 missions without them. I'm finding it impossible to get anything done because every squad I'm sending out gets slagged, so I can't get anybody ranked up. I can't even get someone ranked up high enough to unlock the Officer School. At least in Enemy Unknown, I was in pretty good shape once I figured out how to play smart. In this one, I'm not even being given a chance.
