Cause, on 08 February 2016 - 02:53 PM, said:
Obdigore! Tell me more! I need to live vicariously for a while.
I've had to restart the game 3 times so far, because either my 'elite' squad gets wiped then I lose all my mid levels on the next mission, or I completely fail the meta-game.
But every time it happens I see how/why it happened, and what mistakes to avoid in the future.
Also, I think one of the best things they did, was add timers to most of the missions. Instead of being able to tease forward with a unit or two while your heavies/snipers sit back and mollywop anything your other units see, you only have a set number of turns to grab the VIP AND make it to the extraction zone (I had a game ending loss because 2 of my snipers didn't make it to the extraction zone, then the next mission I played like I had snipers and I didn't). It makes it much more interesting.
Same with the 'terror' missions. There are 12-18 humans on the map, and you need to get within melee range of them to 'rescue' them. You have to rescue a set number before they die (6-8), then finish the aliens. Or you can kill all the aliens while some humans are alive.
The new classes are interesting and very different. I really like the specialists. Heal and Scan are pretty great. Each class has two really distinct trees, for instance the 'Sharpshooter' class can either sit back on a roof somewhere with a sniper rifle, or you can build them like a 'gunslinger', they take multiple shots per round with their pistol, which can actually do some pretty good damage.
The armor choices are interesting too. As you get later into the game you have to choose between protection and firepower, for instance the 'Exo' suit has a 'heavy' weapon on it (rocket launcher, flame thrower, shredder gun), but grants less health and armor than other suits of armor.
As your units level up, they can also put mods on their guns. To get these mods you have to loot them off enemies you killed in the field. Sometimes dying enemies drop stuff, and when they do, you have up to 3 turns to move someone into the square to pick up the stuff, then that trooper has to survive and extract successfully. Different mods do stuff like +10 aim, +10% chance to crit, first reload in mission is free, you still do 2 damage even if you miss, and so on.
And then there is the meta game. You have to strike the enemy positions, and to do so you have to make friends with guerilla cells in their area, which can take months to get there and do, you never have enough intel (its a resource) or supplies (replaces money) to research/build/expand everything you want to. The radio tower/comms facilities rush replaces the satellite rush, and I was hoping it wouldn't.
Oh, and I'm only playing on Normal at the moment. Add to that the fact that the game only keeps your 3 last autosaves, and if you are in a long mission all those autosaves will come in that mission, so if you lose someone early and keep going to see how it goes, it can go really really bad.
And finally - the 'Ranger' class has a shotgun and a sword. It sounds stupid. IT IS NOT. Give them good armor, a stasis vest, and get the perk that lets them move after they kill something, and you can literally dance in, kill an enemy, and dance out.
OH MY GOD AND AMBUSH. Because you are fighting a guerilla war, you attack positions and much of the time the enemy doesn't know you are there before you strike, so if you set all your soldiers but 1 to overwatch, where they can see the enemy, then strike the enemy with your 1 other soldier, your entire team breaks stealth at once and absolutely obliterates the enemy squad.
So yea... there is more but have fun.