UFO: Enemy Unknown, remake by Firaxis

[PhilBowles]

Personally im thinking its best not to accept Progeny on the first opportunity. That many thin man is a pain in ass. Also, when you are almost home, you get one spawn in behind, then 2 spawn in front. that really ruined my day and meant my captive and soldiers were eventually killed. I also bugged out on that mission when a thin man went and suppressed me (did they ever do that before?).

You do get to replay the special missions if you deny them the first time right?

No, not in Enemy Within. But it appears that you don't lose anything from not doing Portent at least, except for the Council mission rewards (whereas if you don't take Slingshot you miss a whole lot of techs earlier than you could otherwise get them, especially if you take a live Muton).

On that note, i always found that the best strategy on EU was to build 2 workshops as fast as you can, 1 satellite in month one, and 6 in month 2. Then build 2 uplinks in month 2. that way you can manage panic, take whatever you need from abductions, and set yourself up for a month 3 base raid

I pretty much never built workshops - on Classic you're unlucky if you lose any countries in month 1, and I can usually keep pace with satellites after that. I only rush the base assault on Impossible, where panic is unmanageable otherwise. My early investments are the Officer Training School and Foundry, and if you go with MECs now I think you need the latter plus Mutons ASAP - without Ammo Conservation they get only two shots before needing to reload.

Im not sure whether mecs or anything else are worth deviating for and it would be interesting to hear views on this. Personally, even though i have failed on my first two attempts (classic ironman, although admittedly i switched off after progeny because i want to see what happens), i think sattellites is always better because the game becomes so much easier in month 3 (you can afford all laser rifles, carapace armour, foundry upgrades - and by extension mechs/gene mods, even laboratories, plus you are essentially ahead 1 month of where the devs probably thought you should be.

They've definitely upped the difficulty of missions by accelerating when aliens show up, and in what quantities - my second terror mission threw three Cyberdiscs and two Chryssalid packs at me. Everything seems a lot more accurate as well, plus Mechtoids are basically very slightly less resilient Sectopods a couple of months early. I'm pretty sure it's balanced around getting mechs or genetic upgrades early (at least, I didn't and am suffering for it). It seems to take a long time to level up MEC soldiers (I still haven't done it, since mine are dying too quickly), so you probably need them pretty early so you can level them enough to go toe to toe with Mechtoids (the basic MEC is a bit weaker than a Mechtoid, and only effective at very close range).

EDIT: It seems that MECs level up with techs - I'd assumed the promotion upgrades and the new MEC suits were different things, like standard promotions and armour equipment. I tend to neglect techs like UFO Power Source, so hadn't encountered higher level MECs (and now I have I don't have the meld for them...).

 

[Kozmos]

As a new player who just got EW (having never played EU) I have to say my worst nightmare is my lone soldier (invariably one of my higher ranked ones) activating a pack of Chryssalids and getting curb stomped as all overwatch shots miss them. The only way I can successfully play is slowly advancing with 80% of my squad on overwatch and one forlon hope leading the charge into the unknown. It works, but makes the game tedious.

Also cash inflow is quite problematic, I'm always scrounging for money and struggling to equip my troops. If I didn't capture a few light plasma rifles I would be veritably screwed against mutons and the like. Haven't tried the MEC troops yet, but the gene mods are nifty, not too OP and give you a nice edge.

 

[Wolfbeckett]

The game sounds so different now from how it was when I played it on release haha. Guess it's time for me to pick up the XPack and maybe DLC and give the game another whirl.

 

[Rub'Rum]

The only way I can successfully play is slowly advancing with 80% of my squad on overwatch and one forlon hope leading the charge into the unknown. It works, but makes the game tedious.

I like the game, but I kind of feel like that too... It would feel a lot less tedious if the AI was doing something other than sitting there waiting for you to trip them.

 

[Hammer Rabbi]

I like the game, but I kind of feel like that too... It would feel a lot less tedious if the AI was doing something other than sitting there waiting for you to trip them.

ive found when using 6-man units, if you take 2 alloy shivs with your 4 promo'd guys (usually 2 snipes, 1 support, and one heavy/assault) you can use them to scout/press ahead and provide cover in the process. using them as shot bait really helps to keep your humans from taking too much. later on when you can repair them with arc throwers it's pretty sweet for the really large maps.

 

[sherbz]

I like the game, but I kind of feel like that too... It would feel a lot less tedious if the AI was doing something other than sitting there waiting for you to trip them.

Sometimes it does, and it usually doesnt end very well. I shall never forget the time when i tripped the sectoid commanders first. I ended my turn and they did something i never even knew the aliens could do, they called for assistance. This resulted in the following situation, and bear in mind i had already killed a ton of aliens before this happened.

Spoiler :

the point is that if the computer did do something about your presence rather than just sit there, the game would be immeasurably harder than it is , the maps would have to be redesigned etc.

 

[grandad1982]

I like the game, but I kind of feel like that too... It would feel a lot less tedious if the AI was doing something other than sitting there waiting for you to trip them.

If only there were some tactical ufo based game with aliens that moved around and your huge skyranger full of units was needed to deal with them on random maps....

 

[Kozmos]

If only the horribly pixelated look didn't tire my eyes and give me headaches. Same reason I can't play Alpha Centauri for long anymore and I loved that more than this. I'm not a young bastard dammit.

 

[PhilBowles]

If only there were some tactical ufo based game with aliens that moved around and your huge skyranger full of units was needed to deal with them on random maps....

If only there was. As it is the options are limited to XCOM, where aliens are either static or patrol a very small area until encountered by XCOM forces, or the UFO games ... where aliens are either static or patrol a very small area until encountered by XCOM forces.

And in UFO, unlike XCOM, once "activated" the aliens still just stood around or patrolled - you could be in full view of a Floater hiding in a corner in a barn and it wouldn't even move to retreat, and reliably set up ambushes along the stereotyped patrol routes within bases and at the entrance to UFO control rooms. I've heard that you could get around this by waiting until turn 20, at which point the aliens actually started moving for themselves, but few of my UFO battles lasted much more than half this time.

What UFO did do better in this regard was allow aliens to fire on their own initiative, without having to be activated first - they'd only do it if your forces were close enough to theirs that they could see them in their patrols, or were close enough to support aliens already engaged with XCOM, and aliens would often start closer to the Skyranger and so able to see it on turn 1.

Mechanised units in Enemy Within going into overwatch when activated is an improvement over vanilla, but you still have to actually activate them first, they won't be hidden in the fog of war on overwatch.

I'm also finding in Enemy Within that aliens seem to cluster a lot more - activate them and they behave dynamically, will go onto overwatch when out of sight etc., far more than in UFO. So if I activate two or three groups and have to retreat my soldiers out of sight, I get a proper fight on my hands as the now active aliens hunt me just as I'm hunting them.

 

[PhroX]

If only there were some tactical ufo based game with aliens that moved around and your huge skyranger full of units was needed to deal with them on random maps....

I'm assuming you're referring to either the original UFO: Enemy Unknown (which stupid people call XCOM:UFO defense), or Xenonauts, which is the usual obsession of the "FIRAXIS KILLED XCOM!!!1111!" brigade (not saying you're one of them, but I've seen so many frothing idiots among Xenonauts fans...). And while I admit I've not tried the latter, it seems rather pointless to me, given that I already have UFO and Xenonaughts seems to be trying to recreate it as much as possible - never understood the point of straight up remakes. Doing things in a different way, such as how XCOM has done, is a much better thing IMO - that way I get two games worth playing rather than one just replacing the other.

And while the enemy moving around is good, the other two things - random maps and lots of units are, IMO, far worse than XCOM's way of doing things (and this is coming from someone who loved UFO back in the 90s). Random maps are pretty much never as interesting as well crafted pre-made ones. I mean, going back to UFO, the maps were awful. No real variety at all - sure the house would be on the left side of the map rather than the right, but it didn't change how the map played at all. XCOM has much more variety and the maps are carefully made to ensure that fighting on them is interesting. Lots of troops, meanwhile, means you lose much of the individuality, the character of your soldiers. When you've only got a few people, you come to care far more of them, you remember their individual deeds far more, and their (inevitable) deaths mean so much more.

 

[PhilBowles]

I'm assuming you're referring to either the original UFO: Enemy Unknown (which stupid people call XCOM:UFO defense), or Xenonauts, which is the usual obsession of the "FIRAXIS KILLED XCOM!!!1111!" brigade (not saying you're one of them, but I've seen so many frothing idiots among Xenonauts fans...). And while I admit I've not tried the latter, it seems rather pointless to me, given that I already have UFO and Xenonaughts seems to be trying to recreate it as much as possible - never understood the point of straight up remakes. Doing things in a different way, such as how XCOM has done, is a much better thing IMO - that way I get two games worth playing rather than one just replacing the other.

And while the enemy moving around is good, the other two things - random maps and lots of units are, IMO, far worse than XCOM's way of doing things (and this is coming from someone who loved UFO back in the 90s). Random maps are pretty much never as interesting as well crafted pre-made ones. I mean, going back to UFO, the maps were awful. No real variety at all - sure the house would be on the left side of the map rather than the right, but it didn't change how the map played at all. XCOM has much more variety and the maps are carefully made to ensure that fighting on them is interesting. Lots of troops, meanwhile, means you lose much of the individuality, the character of your soldiers. When you've only got a few people, you come to care far more of them, you remember their individual deeds far more, and their (inevitable) deaths mean so much more.

I wouldn't throw out random maps just because UFO didn't use them terribly well. The way they worked was modular - each section was basically a small map in itself joined to others. What XCOM does in terms of complex maps could reasonably be done for a map section, and a random arrangement of these sections would still produce an interesting play experience. In UFO, outside terror maps you had a couple of building sections, somewhat less common wood or jungle sections, and every other map section was some variant of an open field. The only tactically involved element of the map was the UFO, which had a fixed layout. That UFO could however be placed randomly within the map landscape.

XCOM's maps certainly do get stale over time, and because aliens spawn in the same places and don't move much, they have more or less fixed solutions (observatory Council mission? Go round the back and to the left). UFO got around its static aliens to some extent by placing them almost wholly randomly in the landscape (except the ones contracted to stay in the UFO control room). XCOM unfortunately has fixed spawning locations. And from what I can tell so far, Enemy Within has taken a step back in terms of alien diversity - play a given mission at a given difficulty at time X, and you will always have exactly the same mix of aliens (and in one UFO map, I always seem to encounter the Seekers in exactly the same place), while Enemy Within mixed-and-matched alien types a lot more.

 

[sherbz]

I like the new mix of maps. I think they work well, especially the ones where the UFO has crashed landed outside in a densely populated area. My only gripe with the game thus far is that portent is too freaking damn hard. They would have done better having the slingshot play in month 2, then portent in month 3, then slingshot episode 2 in month 4 and so on.

Other than that in my game im in month 3, just finished the second slingshot mission, but an awry rocket totalled my mech, although i have one back up. Looking good on all other fronts, although i lost portent (again) .

 

[ImperialGuard]

I've been playing the new release, and really like some of the "fine tuning" they've done.

Couple things I've noticed, not sure if this new or was always there:

LOTS of women soldiers ! Every new game, I start with 3-4 women soldiers. Never had a game where I had 3 or 4 men to start! --> Anyway to turn women off? I like women but find they look small (at least give me some "butch" women who look like soldiers)

Soldiers that are "bleeding out" when a mission ends, die. They do not go back to the barracks/infirmary. Could have swore in the previous version, they would transport back to the base, now it appears the become KIA. (can anyone else confirm this?)

Biggest gripe-to-date is that I am disappointed they didn't throw in some "camo armour"/real military uniforms. What we have is "nice" --- if I wanted pink/purple soldiers

 

[Pikkis]

LOTS of women soldiers ! Every new game, I start with 3-4 women soldiers. Never had a game where I had 3 or 4 men to start! --> Anyway to turn women off? I like women but find they look small (at least give me some "butch" women who look like soldiers)

One of my biggest gripes with XCOM:EU was that it recruited men something like 3:1 or 4:1 to women. I'm glad they've changed it. I suppose it should be even now in XCOM:EW, although my so far quite small sample likely has had more women than men recruited.

 

[PhroX]

One of my biggest gripes with XCOM:EU was that it recruited men something like 3:1 or 4:1 to women. I'm glad they've changed it. I suppose it should be even now in XCOM:EW, although my so far quite small sample likely has had more women than men recruited.

Pretty sure it was 2:1 (2/3 men, 1/3 women). A little tweaking with Toolboks corrected this though (to ALL WOMEN! Saving the world with hot chicks! )

 

[PhilBowles]

I
Soldiers that are "bleeding out" when a mission ends, die. They do not go back to the barracks/infirmary. Could have swore in the previous version, they would transport back to the base, now it appears the become KIA. (can anyone else confirm this?)

Seems like a bug, as long as you're sure the soldier in question didn't bleed out in the battle and you missed the announcement. My Support went down in Portent after failing to kill his Thin Man target (I started a new campaign, having too low-level soldiers in my last to beat Sectopods due to my high rate of attrition), and was back in barracks (gravely wounded, naturally) at the end of the mission, which ended with his counter on 1. Since the Support in question was the only team member with a medi-kit, plus he was the rear guard with no one close enough to rush to his aid, he definitely wasn't healed/stabilised.

As an aside, finally beat Portent (without any cinematic or apparent follow-up to show for it) - Thin Men don't get on well with flamethrower MECs (I'd MEC'ed a former heavy, and that body shield came in useful against unerring Thin Man accuracy too). The rest of the squad was two snipers (both Sergeants - one a reward, one my first sniper who I'd managed to level up) and the hapless Support. I stationed a sniper at each side of the central building, moved the Support to the roof of the building closest to the EXALT survivor, and the MEC acted as mobile covering fire for the survivor, taking out anything the snipers couldn't see or failed to kill. Of course, it did help that the reward sniper started off as a sergeant with 100 base aim (can't wait to see what his stats are as a colonel).

 

[sherbz]

Im actually thinking that mechs are worthwhile deviating for late in month 1/early month 2 for the reason that portent would be much easier. What would be your first? A kinetic strike mech or a flame thrower mech. I think flame thrower is better. 6 damage early doors obliterates everything pretty much.

I have almost reached month 4. I have completed slingshot. However, i suffered the heavy casualty of my major sniper. I was really annoyed at that as well. There is hardly any space for cover in the giant battleship, so my squad was fairly well bunched in the penultimate room. Then i used my mechs collateral damage to destroy the nodes (or whatever they're called), put everyone else on overwatch, and ended my turn. A cyberdisk came trundling through the doorway, having not teleported in earlier, unloaded his plasma into my snipers face, dealing 14 critical damage. Needless to say, this made my sniper turn into plasma soup. I was just bummed out that it got to move and shoot and i had no chance to react.

Still, completed that mission. I now have more alloys and elerium than i could possibly know what to do with.

Exalt have just shown up too and drained my cash reserves . Im thinking of waiting until next month before i take them out. Anyone know how long the cell stays in your screen view for? Im hoping for a month.

 

[PhilBowles]

Im actually thinking that mechs are worthwhile deviating for late in month 1/early month 2 for the reason that portent would be much easier. What would be your first? A kinetic strike mech or a flame thrower mech. I think flame thrower is better. 6 damage early doors obliterates everything pretty much.

Flamethrower is better early. My mistake last time was leaving MECs late, and by the time I got them the flamethrower wasn't really any use for anything much (mechanised units other than Floaters are immune), and most aliens and EXALT seem to be immune to panic - they'll have a panic reaction move when flamed, but will move and fight normally next turn). If you go with MECs, though, you also need to invest in key supporting techs/facilities that can normally be left later - Experimental Warfare and the resulting Foundry are important, as are minor techs like UFO Power Source and Elerium.

 

[Wolfbeckett]

Im actually thinking that mechs are worthwhile deviating for late in month 1/early month 2 for the reason that portent would be much easier. What would be your first? A kinetic strike mech or a flame thrower mech. I think flame thrower is better. 6 damage early doors obliterates everything pretty much.

I pretty much beelined mechs on my current game and made one of each. Flamethrower is really great against early targets but definitely make sure to have a kinetic strike mech before your first terror mission, my kinetic strike guy obliterated the chrysalids and zombies like they were nothing. It was by far the easiest time I've ever had on the first terror mission.

 

[Spidernova]

About the 3rd slingshot mission, that cyberdisk is easily the most dangerous enemy on the map for the sole reason that it is pre activated. Not to mention that its a freaking disc before you have lasers and carapace