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[Graelyn]

I play Ironman mode always.

My awesome squad goes out and gets annhilated tryin to 'secure' some alien-loving politician....they all die and his unarmed ass makes it...

From that point on it was all downhill as my Skyranger full of wide-eyed rookies get shoved into mid-game missions full of truly fucked up enemies, get ripped in half, and start panicking all over each other...

Earth is lost... 

I CAN'T WAIT TO PLAY AGAIN 

[Silas Vitalia]

Just lost to Koronakesh 0-5 multiplayer matches, he whupped me good.

I suggest new players take special care learning what constitutes 'visible' and where you are vulnerable near corners etc.

As an RTS guy I'm just going to have to learn the system and figure out how to break it. Right now it looks like there's no incentive to be offensive for any reason. Sit back and wait for them to come to you and one-shot kills to victory. 

 

[Ken]

Tried a run on Classic difficulty and Ironman right after finishing the tutorial.  Was down to two badly wounded soldiers by the end of March 2015.   

[Logan Fyreite]

Money management is brutal in this game. Few problems I have with it so far.

1. Being unable to tackle more than one mission site at a time is kinda silly. If I could buy more skyrangers (maybe I can and I just haven't found out how to yet) and deploy to more than one site that would be amazing.
2. mid-game money management wins or loses you the game, no more cheating like in the original xcom where you could just mass produce laser pistols or rifles and sell them back to member nations for a nice profit.
3. recruit class designations - took one mission with 1 heavy and 4 rookies, ended up at the end of the mission with 1 heavy and 4 snipers. I do-not-need that many snipers!

Other than that game is pretty damn amazing.

[Wanoah]

Thanks to the madness - MADNESS I SAY - of staggered release schedules, XCOM is sitting on my hard drive awaiting unlock.

In a similar vein: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/10/10/no-oceans-dishonored-uk-launch-trailer-takes-the-piss/

[Rok-Yuni]

just as a slight aside...

The original games, UFO, TFTD, Apoc, Interceptor (and of course the uberfail that was enforcer) are all on steam in their cheap-ass section...

iir they are £2.99 for us brits, not sure what they are over in america.. but still, take a peek if you haven't played them before, or simply want a bit of good-old fun.

[Seriphyn]

Loving it.

One thing I'm looking forward to are possible expansions packs that might expand the aesthetic variations. Impressed by the environments so far (like a skyscraper rooftop in Japan complete with Asian script), but a lot of it is Western-centric. I know that when Firaxis first released Civ4, for example, all the cities were of a Western design. Within an expansion pack or two, they added variations.

That is mostly a First World concern, which goes to show how the rest of the game is great. Still, upping a little thing like that would increase the immersion.

[Shaalira]

This game ate half a weekend.

My Sunday, where did it go?!

P.S. - Snipers with 'Double Tap' and a scope can be seriously awesome.  In my first playthrough, one such sniper literally saved the Earth.

Now expansion conjecture.  Spoilers.
[spoiler]
In the original X-COM, you tracked the aliens to a Mars base and sent out a team to assault it.  It was a multi-level mission of doom.  I noticed in the mission control room there are at least two spherical wireframes lurking on the starry edges.  I kept expecting the plot to open up a similar option for traveling off-planet.  Perhaps a DLC or expansion will expand the campaign further, since the last scene was a bit open-ended.[/spoiler]

[Tiberious Thessalonia]

one thing Ive noticed is that there appears to be a bug in that the Council never actually pays you the bonuses it says you are entitled to for doing well in a month!

[Tiberious Thessalonia]

It's good. It's very good.


I'm playing on 'classic' difficulty, which is damned hard and kicking my ass. Lots and lots of saving and restarting missions.  I'm trying to get through without losing people, I spent hours just getting through a handful of missions with no casualties.

You will curse the heavens when your inept and frail human troops completely miss targets right in front of them, and are then vaporized by the aliens on their turn.

You will also curse when your frail and weak human, panicked at the carnage around her, accidentally empties a clip into the squaddie right next to her.

There is an 'ironman' mode that does not allow you to reload saved games and autosaves for you, but I'm far to weak to attempt.

From what I can gather you can complete the missions far faster and with low casualties by using lots of 'explosives' (grenades, bazookas) but blowing up the aliens doesn't leave much wreckage for you to salvage for upgrades.  A tradeoff if you will.

Anyway its super fun, and super engrossing. GET IT.

This is the incorrect way to play X-com, Silas.  I am dissapoint.

Losing your rookies (and more experienced soldiers) is what X-Com is all about.

[Seriphyn]

This game ate half a weekend.

My Sunday, where did it go?!

P.S. - Snipers with 'Double Tap' and a scope can be seriously awesome.  In my first playthrough, one such sniper literally saved the Earth.

How did you complete it so quickly?! After losing horrendously attacking a specific downed UFO(*see spoiler), I've been struggling since. It was back in May or June, and it's now October and I still haven't progressed past it, since all I got are squaddies and some sergeants that keep dying each time I attack. Lost Brazil and Argentina...I should have only attacked that UFO with plasma tech and titan armor...I have it NOW but it's still not enough. Just waiting for council missions and abductions to train them up.

[spoiler]*Overseer UFO. Fuck sectopods. Fuck them hard[/spoiler]

[Shaalira]

Get a decent satellite network up with some interceptors early on.  Satellites lower panic levels.  Focus on one or two continents at first, and choose to stop abductions on the continents where you don't have coverage in order to minimize panic all around.  I didn't lose any countries on my first playthrough on normal difficulty. 

With more satellites up, you'll detect more random UFOs.  Downing UFOs (as well as hitting landed ones) means you get more opportunities to level up your squadron and get valuable alloys/elerium for upgrades.

[Seriphyn]

Get a decent satellite network up with some interceptors early on.  Satellites lower panic levels.  Focus on one or two continents at first, and choose to stop abductions on the continents where you don't have coverage in order to minimize panic all around.  I didn't lose any countries on my first playthrough on normal difficulty. 

With more satellites up, you'll detect more random UFOs.  Downing UFOs (as well as hitting landed ones) means you get more opportunities to level up your squadron and get valuable alloys/elerium for upgrades.

Thanks, the "satellites early on" thing I overlooked, since I only learnt it was a strategy further in. BTW, Ironman or not?

[Myyona]

I might be playing on too low difficulty, but...

the game is too short.

In the original games (UFO, TFTD, APOC) you could spend hours on a mission, apparently that is a no-no in the game design philosophy of today. Action, action, action, visual effects, visual effects, visual effects...

UFO: Extraterrestrials* might have been a rip-off of the original games, but damn, that game took weeks, if not months, to get through. Lacked visual effects, though.

XCOM is a great/awesome game, but I fear the replayability value is low. Leaves me wanting for more, which is good if they manage to release some DLCs in the near future.


*: Oh, I see there is an UFO: Extraterrestrials 2 coming out soon. Will probably play that, regardless of visual standards and levels of action.

[Ken]

I might be playing on too low difficulty, but...

the game is too short.

If you're not playing on Classic...

[spoiler]urdoinitrong [/spoiler]