UFO: Enemy Unknown, remake by Firaxis

[Mark the Bold]

Hi Everybody. I'm Mark and I have a problem. I am an X-Com-aholic.

Seriously folks. I love, love, love these games, and this new one is uber-cool. The original X-Com's are probably the most awesomely-infuriating PC game series I've ever played. In fact, I think its the only game I've ever thrown my keyboard in rage before because some BS little ninja alien takes out my surviving squadmates in the last moments of a long, challenging level and I have to start over again.

Man, I'm having trouble getting my Snipers to level up. Word on the street is that once Snipers become high level, they own, but they are currently not carrying their own weight early game. Still no Sniper casualty. "Vasily Zaytsev II" is still ticking and once he unlocks the uber-awesome 'Opportunist' ability, the aliens are gonna feel the burn!!!!

My fav class so far is my Canadian support. Saved my squadmates bacon more than once with smoke nades and medpacks. He is actually taking out some Aliens to boot, and is currently my highest level soldier.

Heavy is the most fun however. Nothing like saving your rocket for the last poor sectoid and blowing his nuts off with it, cover and all.

I'm having the most trouble keeping my Assaults alive. Admittedly, I'm new and I suck, but man the aliens zero in on them every time even when advancing slowly. Guess, I'll live and learn, but shoving shotguns up alien asses is jolly good fun and worth the effort.

Great, great, great game. Firaxis don't ever change! You're the Rockstar Games of the serious strategy game world!!!!

PS: Love the fact that this game is challenging and forces you to plan ahead.

 

[sherbz]

My first impressions are good. I am only 3 missions in as i have a job and dont want to get fired, so couldnt justify staying up much past midnight. 100% record so far (unless you count the tutorial ). I think they will bring in more variety in the future. Civ IV without any mods still has Western looking units as standard (i think). Bat mod sorts that out. I think we have the shell of a superb game here and long may the franchise continue.

 

[PhilBowles]

I've just played my first few missions - normal difficulty, but it's the first run and so still on tutorial mode, which means heavy scripting in the Geoscape ("Go to the situation room now, research Xeno-biology now" etc.) Combat is another matter, and there's freedom to equip soldiers which makes for some interesting choices.

For those like me who thought grenades were a bit too easy in the demo - there's a reason. MostId another option. I debated whether to replace my heavy's grenade with a nano-vest (my first completed research) - the decision saved his life on the next mission.

The game is pretty tense and presents tactical options in-game you get no feel at all for from the demo. Aliens will reinforce in certain missions (I think just those authorised by the Council) and so can turn up in some very inconvenient places. It's much more important than in the first UFO to make effective use of cover and to support your guys appropriately, and it's not quite the no-brainer I expected to determine when overwatch is a good move (though I routinely use it if I have a low chance to hit). It just so happens my first missions gave a true X-COM 'down to the wire' feel - a slight misstep in placing one of my rookies got him shot, and then poisoned by a Thin Man. He only had 1 health left (poison is the same as fatal wounds in the original game), and no medikits on the team at that stage. This was a mission where I had to get an alien abductee back to the drop zone (objective-based missions are a nice touch); she was literally one square away from being able to dash to the Skyranger that turn, as I'd had to place her in cover behind a bus (the Thin Man was standing at the drop zone). So my poor rookie died by the skin of his teeth...

These are very preliminary impressions, but did make it hard for me to quit instead of moving onto the next mission - but I do need to go to work...

Man, I'm having trouble getting my Snipers to level up. Word on the street is that once Snipers become high level, they own, but they are currently not carrying their own weight early game. Still no Sniper casualty. "Vasily Zaytsev II" is still ticking and once he unlocks the uber-awesome 'Opportunist' ability, the aliens are gonna feel the burn!!!!

Maybe give them assault rifles (which any class can carry) instead of sniper rifles until they've levelled up? I presume they will still be able to use the headshot ability whatever they're armed with, but that way you can move and fire at the same time.

Heavy is the most fun however. Nothing like saving your rocket for the last poor sectoid and blowing his nuts off with it, cover and all.

I'm finding the camera controls for manoeuvring the rocket clunky - it's often difficult to place, particularly close to the edge of the map when the mouse scrolls to the wrong place. Also the elevation system isn't particularly polished, and as a result I failed to use the correct elevation when firing my rocket in one mission - with the result that I got a very impressive KO on a bus, but the Thin Man standing on top of it was unharmed.

Civ IV without any mods still has Western looking units as standard (i think).

Given that we now have unit nationalities, it's a bit flavour-breaking that the soldiers all speak with American accents. What I do like - as someone who liked the random names in the original (it's just somehow more satisfying to develop Wolfgang Mederow or Spencer Johnson from a nobody to a hero and trace their career progression than to follow characters named Sid Meier or whatever) I like the greater variety in names available.

I do dislike automatic stats, though - while classes may work well (I haven't yet had enough levelled characters to see how they really work in action - my support soldier was hospitalised after the mission that promoted him, and the heavy has only just reached Corporal. Bullet Swarm - going to love fire-then-overwatch), I'm sure they could have had randomised Aim, Health, Will etc. rather than have all rookies be Aim 65 by default.

 

[sherbz]

I've just played my first few missions - normal difficulty, but it's the first run and so still on tutorial mode, which means heavy scripting in the Geoscape ("Go to the situation room now, research Xeno-biology now" etc.) Combat is another matter, and there's freedom to equip soldiers which makes for some interesting choices.

For those like me who thought grenades were a bit too easy in the demo - there's a reason. MostId another option. I debated whether to replace my heavy's grenade with a nano-vest (my first completed research) - the decision saved his life on the next mission.

The game is pretty tense and presents tactical options in-game you get no feel at all for from the demo. Aliens will reinforce in certain missions (I think just those authorised by the Council) and so can turn up in some very inconvenient places. It's much more important than in the first UFO to make effective use of cover and to support your guys appropriately, and it's not quite the no-brainer I expected to determine when overwatch is a good move (though I routinely use it if I have a low chance to hit). It just so happens my first missions gave a true X-COM 'down to the wire' feel - a slight misstep in placing one of my rookies got him shot, and then poisoned by a Thin Man. He only had 1 health left (poison is the same as fatal wounds in the original game), and no medikits on the team at that stage. This was a mission where I had to get an alien abductee back to the drop zone (objective-based missions are a nice touch); she was literally one square away from being able to dash to the Skyranger that turn, as I'd had to place her in cover behind a bus (the Thin Man was standing at the drop zone). So my poor rookie died by the skin of his teeth...

These are very preliminary impressions, but did make it hard for me to quit instead of moving onto the next mission - but I do need to go to work...



Maybe give them assault rifles (which any class can carry) instead of sniper rifles until they've levelled up? I presume they will still be able to use the headshot ability whatever they're armed with, but that way you can move and fire at the same time.



I'm finding the camera controls for manoeuvring the rocket clunky - it's often difficult to place, particularly close to the edge of the map when the mouse scrolls to the wrong place. Also the elevation system isn't particularly polished, and as a result I failed to use the correct elevation when firing my rocket in one mission - with the result that I got a very impressive KO on a bus, but the Thin Man standing on top of it was unharmed.



Given that we now have unit nationalities, it's a bit flavour-breaking that the soldiers all speak with American accents. What I do like - as someone who liked the random names in the original (it's just somehow more satisfying to develop Wolfgang Mederow or Spencer Johnson from a nobody to a hero and trace their career progression than to follow characters named Sid Meier or whatever) I like the greater variety in names available.

I do dislike automatic stats, though - while classes may work well (I haven't yet had enough levelled characters to see how they really work in action - my support soldier was hospitalised after the mission that promoted him, and the heavy has only just reached Corporal. Bullet Swarm - going to love fire-then-overwatch), I'm sure they could have had randomised Aim, Health, Will etc. rather than have all rookies be Aim 65 by default.

I was a bit confused by why a nano vest was actually classed as something that could replace your frag grendaes (like you, i had to go to work, and could not justify staying up past 1:30 AM). Although also like you, I equipped my nano vests on my promoted soldiers, and gave grenades to my rookies (as i was less concerned with them dying).

Im pretty sure the accent thing will be corrected. That is a very cheap and inexpensive thing to correct.

I also had that problem with exploding material, although mine was a van. I blew up the van with the thin man on top, but this did not harm him in anyway. Presumably anything larger than cars is not suitable for destruction. I would like to see more massive instances of destruction, but will be quite happy for the time being I think .

What settings are you playing on? I have gone for iron man on normal. Im absolutely bricking it though that it will crash and i will lose all my progress. Does it autosave, even if its in iron man mode?

 

[kgoodrid]

Well, since I'm not seeing this degenerate into a bashfest, I do actually have some criticisms.

- Soldiers should "remember" what equipment you gave them without requiring you to manually take it off of them. The way the new game is set up you never need, for instance, more than 6 Laser Rifles ( Don't worry though, they can be quite expensive to get. ) Sometimes, though, you have to back out and take on off of a soldier you have in reserve. It's annoying and unnecessary.

- I really wish that the forge was more extensive. I'd love to be able to increase the clip size on a laser rifle or increase the radius of grenades.

- The maps need to have a more legitimately international flavor. Perhaps this could be an expansion or DLC? Anyhow, I'd love to deploy into the middle of the savannah, a desert in Egypt, or in the middle of a bustling Japanese city.

- Similarly, soldiers need to have noticeable accents. Maybe we need Varietas Delectat for X-Com

I agree that it can be a pain to have to go in and pull equipment off Soldiers that are staying behind. I think you are right - each Soldier should remember their selected equipment, and if there is a conflict between two loadouts due to an equipment shortage, maybe just pull it off the lowest ranked Soldier to arm the higher ranked Soldier.

I haven't gotten to use the Forge much, been sending most of my resources to other areas. Seems like it has a nice variety of options though. It would be nice to have more options to improve various weapons...you have Pistol I and Pistol II...why not Assault Rifle I and II?

I also wish there were regional maps. It would be awesome if a mission in South America looked like a South American City, while a mission in Canada looked like a Canadian city. There is tons of room for that kind of thing.

Also agree on the accents. They would need to be careful to avoid cheesy accents, as that is an easy mistake to make. I do think it should all be in English (or whatever language for that game's region) though, just accented.

I've started seeing reports that the campaign has already been beaten, which alarms me somewhat - according to Steam, I'm 35 hours into the original since getting a Steam copy, all devoted to the same campaign (now November 1999, and I'm researching the final two techs needed to reach Mars). How long does the new one tend to take?

I lost my first game on Classic difficulty. Now I am playing on Normal. Not sure how far in I am, but I think well over halfway based on my rough assessment. You aren't going to get 100 hours out of a single campaign. What you are going to get is a wide array of possible strategies and events so that there is a good amount of replay. There are so many ways to approach the game that you can experiment with different strategies in different games. In my current game, I have focused on expanding Sat and Interceptor coverage. I have expanded my squad to a full 6 and have been working to build up as many veterans as possible. I didn't grab laser weapons until fairly recently in the game and haven't even tried to go for Plasma or weapons platforms. Next game will be Classic Ironman, and I will probably try some different strategies.

Man, I'm having trouble getting my Snipers to level up. Word on the street is that once Snipers become high level, they own, but they are currently not carrying their own weight early game. Still no Sniper casualty. "Vasily Zaytsev II" is still ticking and once he unlocks the uber-awesome 'Opportunist' ability, the aliens are gonna feel the burn!!!!

I'm having the most trouble keeping my Assaults alive. Admittedly, I'm new and I suck, but man the aliens zero in on them every time even when advancing slowly. Guess, I'll live and learn, but shoving shotguns up alien asses is jolly good fun and worth the effort.

My snipers have been some of my best Soldiers. I typically keep 1 or 2 back on overwatch on good ground. They often kill aliens when my forward scouts spot them. Once I have advanced a ways, I have my forward troops hunker down and move up the Snipers to new ground if needed. Don't forget that the Snipers have pistols, and can use them when they move. I have typically gone with Squad Sight, but I have heard people having great success with making Snipers who can move and shoot (Forget the ability name).

In my current game I have been really unlucky getting Assaults, but they have been really useful when I have gotten them. I typically give them the best armor and use them to scout and capture aliens. Just make sure they have good cover and a buddy on overwatch. It is really tempting to be super agressive with them, and I have gotten several killed trying to push too hard to get them up close. It is much better to take an extra turn to maneuver, lay down suppression, destroy enemy cover, etc.

 

[PhilBowles]

I was a bit confused by why a nano vest was actually classed as something that could replace your frag grendaes (like you, i had to go to work, and could not justify staying up past 1:30 AM).

Oh, I usually get up at 6 anyway, so just played before going. Unfortunately I had to wait for the download to finish as it had been interrupted by a windows update.

The nanovest thing is one of the 'gamist vs. simulatiionist' things. It makes no sense that a vest would help while in a backpack, but that decision between health and extra firepower is something I'd prefer to a strict "take anything that will fit" approach. There are things from the more flexible inventory system I miss - is there a limit to reloads (only needed to do it once)? I'd rather have electro-flares back than class-specific battle scanners too.

I am, overall, extremely happy with the inventory system. From what I understood from both demos and previews it looked likely to be far more limiting than it is (possibly only affecting weapons); the loss of the battlefield-specific inventory really isn't as big a concern and is only really a practical problem for medikits anyway. What's more it takes away an advantage the human always had over the AI, as aliens would never pick up ammo refills, pick up weapons dropped in a panic etc.

Although also like you, I equipped my nano vests on my promoted soldiers, and gave grenades to my rookies (as i was less concerned with them dying).

That wasn't actually my reasoning - I felt that my heavy would want to stay at a distance quite a lot, and has an area weapon anyway, so a grenade simply wouldn't be useful. A grenade I won't throw is a grenade that's taking up space for no reason. My sniper has a vest for the same reason (even though ideally he won't be getting shot at very often), although if I find he's more useful early on with an assault rifle I'll kit him accordingly.

I also had that problem with exploding material, although mine was a van. I blew up the van with the thin man on top, but this did not harm him in anyway. Presumably anything larger than cars is not suitable for destruction. I would like to see more massive instances of destruction, but will be quite happy for the time being I think .

Multiple hits might destroy it, I don't know. But I think it works like the original game - an explosive that hits a target one one elevational level will leave enemies directly above or below completely unharmed (though I suspect that in this version ceilings and upper floors won't stay up after you destroy the supporting walls). So I think you need to raise the elevation of the target point - but as above this is not easy as the camera controls are set up.

Other irritants with the camera: the default Q and E scrolling appears to be reversed compared with most games, and I haven't yet found how to alter vertical camera angle or switch the camera's focus to the currently selected unit, assuming these are possible.

What settings are you playing on? I have gone for iron man on normal. Im absolutely bricking it though that it will crash and i will lose all my progress. Does it autosave, even if its in iron man mode?

Just standard at the moment. I like the fact that it has an iron man mode, but it didn't occur to me to try it when loading up. Though so far I've only lost that one unfortunate rookie - when you only have 5-6 hit points rather than 30-50, fatal wounds really are fatal very fast. I'm not sure I'm happy that it's now a special ability for one unit type rather than a general rule, but I can see the sense. I lose soldiers a lot less than in the original game, but I think this may be a balance rather than a difficulty thing since you have so few soldiers to begin with - I'm getting at least one wound a game, although I have a gripe that everything in strategic view happens too fast. Wounds mostly heal between missions rather than putting people out of commission forever, and research and manufacture are both supercharged.

I agree that it can be a pain to have to go in and pull equipment off Soldiers that are staying behind. I think you are right - each Soldier should remember their selected equipment, and if there is a conflict between two loadouts due to an equipment shortage, maybe just pull it off the lowest ranked Soldier to arm the higher ranked Soldier.

I haven't observed a downside to just producing 6+ of everything, as production is instantaneous and at least at this stage in the game costs are very low.

on the topic on cover, what does cover do? am I right to assume that all they do is make your guys tougher to hit? or they also cause damage reduction?

I now know the answer to this. Indirectly it causes damage reduction - shooting an exposed unit increases the critical hit chance by 50%. Not getting this penalty seems to be the major benefit of light cover. In my admittedly limited experience so far, it works as follows:

Exposed: You die.
Light cover: You can rely on getting hit, but usually just wounded.
Hard cover: The aliens occasionally miss. If they hit, you'll usually survive.

 

[PhroX]

Well, I've been playing most of the day and so far, I'm very happy with the game. Been on Classic difficulty, albeit not Ironman. Combat is challenging but doable (I've done the odd reload here and there, so the purists might look down on me, but not to the extent where I refuse to let anyone die). My problem is that the world seems to hate me. I've already lost almost half of the nations.

 

[PhilBowles]

Well, I've been playing most of the day and so far, I'm very happy with the game. Been on Classic difficulty, albeit not Ironman. Combat is challenging but doable (I've done the odd reload here and there, so the purists might look down on me, but not to the extent where I refuse to let anyone die). My problem is that the world seems to hate me. I've already lost almost half of the nations.

I have to shamefacedly confess to reloading my original game campaign after an early team loss, but I've stuck with it since despite a couple of missions that crippled both my squads (and eliminated all but one member of one).

Though the geopolitics is almost wholly out of whack for a game set in 2015, I am glad they kept the same nations as in the first game.

 

[Arakhor]

Wow, scumbag firaxis/2kgames region locked the game in the latest patch after release. That is pretty bloody ridiculous and dumb.

2K are nearly as bad as EA and Ubisoft for the ridiculous and unfair treatment of paying customers. Not that I'd ever consider pirating a game these days, but they certainly are not giving people a reason not to do so.

 

[Mark the Bold]

^^^^

To be perfectly honest, if you have a region locked code for a game, downloading a copy from the interwebs / torrents is not piracy. You OWN a copy of that game. Case closed.

 

[sherbz]

Oh, I usually get up at 6 anyway, so just played before going. Unfortunately I had to wait for the download to finish as it had been interrupted by a windows update.

The nanovest thing is one of the 'gamist vs. simulatiionist' things. It makes no sense that a vest would help while in a backpack, but that decision between health and extra firepower is something I'd prefer to a strict "take anything that will fit" approach. There are things from the more flexible inventory system I miss - is there a limit to reloads (only needed to do it once)? I'd rather have electro-flares back than class-specific battle scanners too.

I am, overall, extremely happy with the inventory system. From what I understood from both demos and previews it looked likely to be far more limiting than it is (possibly only affecting weapons); the loss of the battlefield-specific inventory really isn't as big a concern and is only really a practical problem for medikits anyway. What's more it takes away an advantage the human always had over the AI, as aliens would never pick up ammo refills, pick up weapons dropped in a panic etc.



That wasn't actually my reasoning - I felt that my heavy would want to stay at a distance quite a lot, and has an area weapon anyway, so a grenade simply wouldn't be useful. A grenade I won't throw is a grenade that's taking up space for no reason. My sniper has a vest for the same reason (even though ideally he won't be getting shot at very often), although if I find he's more useful early on with an assault rifle I'll kit him accordingly.



Multiple hits might destroy it, I don't know. But I think it works like the original game - an explosive that hits a target one one elevational level will leave enemies directly above or below completely unharmed (though I suspect that in this version ceilings and upper floors won't stay up after you destroy the supporting walls). So I think you need to raise the elevation of the target point - but as above this is not easy as the camera controls are set up.

Other irritants with the camera: the default Q and E scrolling appears to be reversed compared with most games, and I haven't yet found how to alter vertical camera angle or switch the camera's focus to the currently selected unit, assuming these are possible.



Just standard at the moment. I like the fact that it has an iron man mode, but it didn't occur to me to try it when loading up. Though so far I've only lost that one unfortunate rookie - when you only have 5-6 hit points rather than 30-50, fatal wounds really are fatal very fast. I'm not sure I'm happy that it's now a special ability for one unit type rather than a general rule, but I can see the sense. I lose soldiers a lot less than in the original game, but I think this may be a balance rather than a difficulty thing since you have so few soldiers to begin with - I'm getting at least one wound a game, although I have a gripe that everything in strategic view happens too fast. Wounds mostly heal between missions rather than putting people out of commission forever, and research and manufacture are both supercharged.



I haven't observed a downside to just producing 6+ of everything, as production is instantaneous and at least at this stage in the game costs are very low.



I now know the answer to this. Indirectly it causes damage reduction - shooting an exposed unit increases the critical hit chance by 50%. Not getting this penalty seems to be the major benefit of light cover. In my admittedly limited experience so far, it works as follows:

Exposed: You die.
Light cover: You can rely on getting hit, but usually just wounded.
Hard cover: The aliens occasionally miss. If they hit, you'll usually survive.

Well, im still on normal and iron man. Things are going well so far. I had one slightly dodgny mission wherr i lost 2 in one sortie, however inow have almost a full compliment to go back with.

the game, i think, is spot on. What i have issue with, especially as you dont get to equip your troops before the mission (considering engineering purchases are covered), is that you cant just buy additional equipment at the drop of a hat (or a mission). Maybe this is supposed to be tactical, but i think it a little silly.

 

[Arakhor]

Sherbz, do please spoiler or snip massive posts like that.

 

[Disgustipated]

I'm glad that my worries seem to have been for nothing. I was initially optimistic, then pessimistic, now I'm optimistic again.

One quick question before I buy (yes I know I can find system reqs on the website most likely), does the game play well on an average rig? I built my computer fairly top of the line, but that was 4 years ago, so...

All I know is Civ5 doesn't play very well on my computer at all. Just the same, I don't care for it very much and have since went back to Civ4 and it's amazing mods.

 

[scratchthepitch]

EDIT: Wow, scumbag firaxis/2kgames region locked the game in the latest patch after release. That is pretty bloody ridiculous and dumb.

I looked over that thread. That region locking is dishonest business practices. I'll make sure now that I never buy or trade for 2K products, even inadvertently. There is plenty of honest game companies out there, no need to deal with the rip-off specialists. Yet.

 

[Leonel]

I guess my friend was right when she said "Don't get too used to your squad mates." I was assaulting an alien base and lost two good women, a sniper and a heavy got turned into a zombie. I was worried that I would lose a third after a sectoid commander mind controlled her.

 

[Andvare]

^^^^

To be perfectly honest, if you have a region locked code for a game, downloading a copy from the interwebs / torrents is not piracy. You OWN a copy of that game. Case closed.

It might not be illegal to bypass the regional lock a game that you own, but it does depend on the country.


Two downright moronic things in this game.
One, the lack of free camera. No excuse, this should be there. This should be in a game ten years old.
Two, lack of control over the specializations. A roll of the dice is just silly. When we have classes, a design decision I disagree with, but one that you at least can justify somewhat, you should be able to mold your team and not rely on the RNG. That is not a strategic decision, that is not a decision at all. Play the hand you are dealt, yeah right, immersion breaking (no sniper school in the world you say?) and taking decisions away from the player. Piss poor design that.

The single base actually works, the satellite system is nice. The added bonus for satellite coverage for a region is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it is a bit arcady, on the other, it does force you to make some decisions "Should I lower the panic levels, or should I go for the higher bonus?".
However, that your base cannot be attacked is a sore spot, and was a big part of the original for a reason. The "defend your base" mission were a very different of mission, the roles of the hunter and hunted being switched.

The lack of an inventory is also a poor design decision, sorry, it just is. And the whole "a shirt in my backpack keeps me from dying" thing is just stupid. Yes, it is a limiting factor to the tactical part of the game, and games are all about limits, but those limits could have been in by other, more sensible, means. An encumbrance system for example, or implant-upgrades of the soldiers ala Syndicate, or a tighter control of the cost of production both in time and §. There are many ways the produce the same result, and not so artificially limit the player. The way it works now is one step from a sign that says "you cannot do this because of gamedesign".

The same argument can be had with the way missions are handled. So I can't do two terror missions at the same time, that is perfectly reasonable, by why on Earth can't I create more than one Skyranger then? Again it is a limiting factor, and again one that doesn't make a lick of sense. It could be achieved by other means, and limits the players freedom to do as he pleases.

That bile aside, it is a very good game. The smaller size "away team" does work, even though I would probably prefer a couple more, it does concentrate the action. And the removal of the TUs aren't a problem at all IMHO, the micromanagement of TUs in the old game weren't all that fun.
They have also hit the atmosphere nicely.
Definitely a solid game, and one of the best games this year.

Mind you, this is based on little gametime, as I have only leeched some time from a friend of mine. I probably wont get it (darn Steam, and I thoroughly dislike the dodgy antics that 2K does. Regional lockdowns my pasty white hiney), but I'd recommend it to anyone that aren't bothered with such things.

 

[JosEPh_II]

So no one here has a problem with it being only available thru Steam? Or is this just a rumor?

JosEPh

 

[Maniacal]

Nope, just you and The_J.

MaNiaCAL

 

[DaviddesJ]

So no one here has a problem with it being only available thru Steam? Or is this just a rumor?

That's incorrect. You can buy it from other sources but you do have to authenticate your license through Steam. You don't have to be online to play. It seems somewhat annoying but all DRM is somewhat annoying, it's not really a big deal.

 

[DaviddesJ]

Two, lack of control over the specializations. A roll of the dice is just silly. When we have classes, a design decision I disagree with, but one that you at least can justify somewhat, you should be able to mold your team and not rely on the RNG.

From my point of view this is a big plus in a strategy game. Commanders mostly don't get to choose the abilities of their troops, in the real world.