XCOM V5: Grazed shots still count as hits - Games

It sucks that Templar bladestorm kills don't give focus though

[QUOTE=Vinh255;52674280]Are you serious? My best Ranger probably has over 20 kills from bladestorm alone. Give them the axes or the katana and it's pretty much game over for anything that gets close.[/QUOTE] Oh, so melee is good in the dlc?

[QUOTE=Mort Stroodle;52674246]Bladestorm? Are we talking about the same ability here? All that does is give you one attack with the most underwhelming weapon in the game if somebody gets into melee range. I never choose it over implaceable, being able to run and gun in, shoot them for massive guaranteed crit damage, and then fuck off around a corner is too good.[/QUOTE] Early game the machete isn't the best, but even the arc blade is fantastic. Get an ionic axe or arm your ranger with the katana and hes a killing machine, a ranger with the katana and serpent suit is probably one of my favorite OP combos in the game atm. And the beauty of the training centre is that now you can have [b]all[/b] those skills. Every game I've ever run, Rangers absolutely EAT Chryssalids for breakfast, bitch slap stun lancers, and if you're really ballsy aggressive ranger placement can also rack up some bodies. Now my rangers are swatting lost like flies. I like to have two bladestorm rangers, one with the katana and one with the axe as a sort of vanguard and I'll move up all my troops in a box shooting lost and any that still get close enough get cut down by the rangers. It's some real shit.

[QUOTE=Mort Stroodle;52674302]Oh, so melee is good in the dlc?[/QUOTE] Iirc melee was always good, but if you have alien hunters you can unlock the Hunters Axe really early and that's a great weapon, and once you kill a Chosen you get their weapons, which for the Assassin is a sweet sword and shotgun. Any mission with Chrysalids I just lead with my ranger and whenever any try to attack her they get one shotted by bladestorm. On the psionic gate mission there was a pile of corpses 4 or 5 deep next to her at one point.

[QUOTE=pebkac;52674239]So do I have to do anything to unlock a rescue mission after one of my soldiers gets captured on a covert operation? I got the Mox mission automatically after he got captured, but that one seems to be scripted. Now one of my high ranked soldiers has been missing for a month and there's still no word of her, is there any way to speed the process up or will the mission just show up?[/QUOTE] You'll get a covert op to rescue the soldier within three months of their capture. Make sure you have the chosen's territory revealed as well. Templar bladestorm might not generate focus, but you can get the ability that makes things drop focus to help out with that. I think the perk to gain focus on an attack also works with bladestorm, but that might also be a result of a mod.

[QUOTE=Mort Stroodle;52674302]Oh, so melee is good in the dlc?[/QUOTE] Melee becomes ridiculous with the Assassin weapon combined with bladestorm, untouchable and implaceable. Your ranger becomes a death machine who can run into the middle of an enemy pod to do a guaranteed 11-12 damage to all of them and being immune to the first hit that comes his way.

Also, I'm a massive fan of the Resistance order that has a chance to give you a random ADVENT trooper at the start of a mission, it's been something I've wanted for a while. Though I sort of wish it was permanent tbh, given the whole "free ADVENT" thing with the Skirmishers, gimme an upgradable ADVENT lancer mang, all ya gotta do is copy the various XCOM upgrade paths and apply them to ADVENT.

[QUOTE=Mort Stroodle;52674246]Bladestorm? Are we talking about the same ability here? All that does is give you one attack with the most underwhelming weapon in the game if somebody gets into melee range. I never choose it over implaceable, being able to run and gun in, shoot them for massive guaranteed crit damage, and then fuck off around a corner is too good.[/QUOTE] I thought so too, but in practice, it destroys face. Basically, if you melee someone and they don't die, then you get a free swing on them next turn, since AI always tries to relocate if you are flanking them. And like everyone else is saying, Katana users are immune to Chrysalids; they just die before they can even attack the Ranger. Another fun strategy is revealing a pod through a door, closing the door then parking a ranger up to it. I'm pretty sure ayys can only run through doors and not manually open them, so the first ayy through gets a blade clothesline. Happened to a Codex+ Sectoid x2 pod and it was hilarious.

Bladestorm templar is also very grand. Mine currently has something like 400 kills (mind you, most of them are on lost). She basically rips up everything. Her name also came out as Bryce Price (due to a name pack), so "You will pay the Price" ends up being a pun when ever she attacks. Just as good as the time I got a ranger named Hideo Kojima who showed up with what's more or less the Kojima glasses.

It's official, my XCOM A-Team has become too powerful. I was able to kill the Hunter and destroy his sarcophagus in one turn, and then finish him with one psi attack on the next. He never got a chance to fire his gun, summon support, or anything.

[QUOTE=Mort Stroodle;52674302]Oh, so melee is good in the dlc?[/QUOTE] Melee has always been good

So I just picked up the Double Agents order. Along with Volunteer Army, is it possible to get them both on missions now?

[QUOTE=richard9311;52675213]So I just picked up the Double Agents order. Along with Volunteer Army, is it possible to get them both on missions now?[/QUOTE] Yep. Enjoy 8 player squads.

[QUOTE=Louis;52675086]Melee has always been good[/QUOTE] I've rarely been able to find a use for it in vanilla. Why would I ever take a 90% attack with a 10% crit when I could take a 100% shotgun shot with a 30% crit? Even when you're not close enough to flank with a shotgun I'd never dash somebody up right next to the enemy for a shot that's not even guaranteed to hit them. Unless you go for blademaster, in which case you've just given up on the best ability in the game, phantom.

[QUOTE=richard9311;52675213]So I just picked up the Double Agents order. Along with Volunteer Army, is it possible to get them both on missions now?[/QUOTE] So the first one is ADVENT troops, but what's Volunteer Army? do you get a resistance trooper with you or something?

[QUOTE=Mort Stroodle;52675247]I've rarely been able to find a use for it in vanilla. Why would I ever take a 90% attack with a 10% crit when I could take a 100% shotgun shot with a 30% crit? Even when you're not close enough to flank with a shotgun I'd never dash somebody up right next to the enemy for a shot that's not even guaranteed to hit them. Unless you go for blademaster, in which case you've just given up on the best ability in the game, phantom.[/QUOTE] Because Run n' Gun has a turn cooldown. Dashing to enemies to hit them with a sword doesn't have a turn cooldown.

[QUOTE=haloguy234;52675258]Because Run n' Gun has a turn cooldown. Dashing to enemies to hit them with a sword doesn't have a turn cooldown.[/QUOTE] Yeah but [QUOTE]Even when you're not close enough to flank with a shotgun I'd never dash somebody up right next to the enemy for a shot that's not even guaranteed to hit them[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Louis;52675086]Melee has always been good[/QUOTE] Truthfully, melee has always been too risky to use properly. Pushing any soldier forward even a single tile into the fog of war is liable to pull a 2nd pod in this game, using the rangers slash ability to it's full extent is likely to activate the entire map. When just a single accidental pod activation spells disaster on legend imagine what it's like when you pull the entire map in a single move. It's fun to have and use, but not something iv'e ever placed emphasis on getting due to how limited it actually is, especially when you weigh it against Concealment rangers. Bladestorm however has always been a decent choice to pick no matter what skill tree you pick purely because it's free attacks. The lost has given blade rangers new credence.

[QUOTE=jonu67;52675253]So the first one is ADVENT troops, but what's Volunteer Army? do you get a resistance trooper with you or something?[/QUOTE] You get basically a rookie with random xcom armor, but their main weapon is based on the tier you've unlocked. So they get a mag rifle if you've developed it.

[QUOTE=Hogie bear;52675379]You get basically a rookie with random xcom armor, but their main weapon is based on the tier you've unlocked. So they get a mag rifle if you've developed it.[/QUOTE] Except the random rookie has godlike aim.

Question, does anyone else get high temps playing this? My gpu goes up to 95c even with all graphical settings set to low. Every other game I have goes to 80 at the most. I don't know if this is an amd issue or xcom itself.

are SPARK units worth it? i always get them because i find them fun to use but is it worth it?

[QUOTE=Keychain;52675629]are SPARK units worth it? i always get them because i find them fun to use but is it worth it?[/QUOTE] In WotC I'd say they're absolutely worth it. They don't get tired. Their guns can be fitted with mods now. I wouldn't say they're ideal replacements but they are useful to sub in as a heavy if you need the extra firepower or need something to just draw fire.

[QUOTE=Keychain;52675629]are SPARK units worth it? i always get them because i find them fun to use but is it worth it?[/QUOTE] In my latest WoTC playthrough I had a more or less perfect start with plenty of engineers, supplies and avenger facilities built in the first 2~ months and still I found Sparks to be completely useless, having built one. This is bearing in mind that I love to take MEC's in XCOM EW and always do that over gene enhancement. Their cost for what they do and the risk involved for the investment is a joke. They are not worth using up a pair of elerium cores. Build experimental ammo/save the cores for specialised suits instead. Neither is it worth the investment in getting the Spark tier 2 primary weapon, which costs a bomb. As for their effectiveness, even if you get them out early, the fact they start out at a basic rank cripples them. You do not want a rookie Spark in your second month 5 man squad with only early mag weapons. If you end up in a scenario where a pod gets to shoot back, just write a low level Spark off, forget it, its dead. Their offensive output is pitiful. In XCOM EW you were given two of the most powerful abilities in the game off the bat with MEC's, that let you either murder groups of aliens with fire or OHK most enemies with a supercharged punch. This was the compensation for the fact that MEC's are a giant target. In XCOM 2 the Spark can't be relied on to do any more damage outside of close range than a regular Grenadier, because their primary weapon matches the damage profile of grenadier primary weapons, and the rocket launcher is just all round worse than the pair of grenades a Grenadier gets. Overdrive is very meh because of the 15% aim penalty with every shot, and the garbage starting accuracy of Sparks, though to my knowledge this is slightly better in WOTC because of an aim value buff. The problem is that the Spark tries to emulate all four other classes at once by being very mobile, by having explosives, by being able to hack at distance and put out multiple shots in select turns, but you don't need a "jack of all trades master of none" in a game where the optimal strategy is to wipe everything out before it fires back and not having the ability to take full cover is a death sentence if they do fire back. I haven't found fatigue to be problematic enough that I would ever need to use Sparks. In my current playthrough on Commander Ironman I've had 8~ XCOM soldiers at the top of the roster and occassionally I've switched them out with 3 of the Hero classes, fatigue has never been an issue. If you have an issue with a soldier shortage, its quite easy to just get extra high-rank soldiers by doing recruitment/find faction covert actions.

[QUOTE=Dr.Critic;52675794]In my latest WoTC playthrough I had a more or less perfect start with plenty of engineers, supplies and avenger facilities built in the first 2~ months and still I found Sparks to be completely useless, having built one. This is bearing in mind that I love to take MEC's in XCOM EW and always do that over gene enhancement. Their cost for what they do and the risk involved for the investment is a joke. They are not worth using up a pair of elerium cores. Build experimental ammo/save the cores for specialised suits instead. Neither is it worth the investment in getting the Spark tier 2 primary weapon, which costs a bomb. As for their effectiveness, even if you get them out early, the fact they start out at a basic rank cripples them. You do not want a rookie Spark in your second month 5 man squad with only early mag weapons. If you end up in a scenario where a pod gets to shoot back, just write a low level Spark off, forget it, its dead. Their offensive output is pitiful. In XCOM EW you were given two of the most powerful abilities in the game off the bat with MEC's, that let you either murder groups of aliens with fire or OHK most enemies with a supercharged punch. This was the compensation for the fact that MEC's are a giant target. In XCOM 2 the Spark can't be relied on to do any more damage outside of close range than a regular Grenadier, because their primary weapon matches the damage profile of grenadier primary weapons, and the rocket launcher is just all round worse than the pair of grenades a Grenadier gets. Overdrive is very meh because of the 15% aim penalty with every shot, and the garbage starting accuracy of Sparks, though to my knowledge this is slightly better in WOTC because of an aim value buff. The problem is that the Spark tries to emulate all four other classes at once by being very mobile, by having explosives, by being able to hack at distance and put out multiple shots in select turns, but you don't need a "jack of all trades master of none" in a game where the optimal strategy is to wipe everything out before it fires back and not having the ability to take full cover is a death sentence if they do fire back. I haven't found fatigue to be problematic enough that I would ever need to use Sparks. In my current playthrough on Commander Ironman I've had 8~ XCOM soldiers at the top of the roster and occassionally I've switched them out with 3 of the Hero classes, fatigue has never been an issue. If you have an issue with a soldier shortage, its quite easy to just get extra high-rank soldiers by doing recruitment/find faction covert actions.[/QUOTE] In WotC they have better aim and can also have their guns fit with mods now, unlike in the vanilla game. You can get 80-90 aim SPARKs. They also are not intended to be full blown replacements for your top soldiers, they are meant to take a little bit of pressure off of situations where you desperately need a heavy weapon but all of your heavies are lying in the infirmary or are sleeping. Get them to level up once and you can at the very least remove the aim penalty when taking shots in Overdrive. Yes, Heavies can use two grenades but at the end of the day you still only use one per turn until you get Salvo. Is a Heavy better? Yeah, I'd say so. Like I said, SPARKs are not intended to be full-blown replacements. They are meant to be the occasional stand-in for when someone you need is too tired or in the infirmary.

I find the single SPARK I made in WOTC to be one of the most valuable assets in my team, with shredder cannon and rainmaker I have a giant 4 armour mobile full cover which can wipe entire pods for 15 damage once every battle, and since their aim is actually good now you can easily dump 3 6-8 damage shots with crits using overdrive. also i sometimes punch shit with it.

does the hunter have full-map vision or just squadsight?

[QUOTE=Hogie bear;52671874][media]https://youtu.be/FSV3l_fq2P8[/media][/QUOTE] Why would he have to get drive-thru? Everyone knows [sp]XCOM DELIVER TO YA[/sp]

The terror mission AI for civilians in EW/EU boggles my god-damned mind. Why would you be anywhere near the Sectopod that's been repeatedly deployed by the Ayys, and then stay when this fucking twenty foot tall metal dude with a laser cannon the size of a small car walks up and starts shooting? And then stay in within range of an EMP? I can maybe understand the first time they aren't expecting the MEC to deploy an EMP, but after Liveleak physically runs out of server space due to the uploaded clips of "XCOM'S NEW ROBOT KILLS FIVE PEOPLE WITH NEW ALIEN ENERGY PROJECTOR!!! :O :O :O (NOT CLICKBAIT) (GORE)" from the first five times, you'd think they'd learn to get the fuck out of the way. It isn't a big deal in the long run, considering half the population can die and you'll still get a "good" rating for civilians saved despite more dead than alive being present, but it's still annoying and kind of infuriating that they wouldn't run away at all.

[QUOTE=JerryAnderson;52676328]The terror mission AI for civilians in EW/EU boggles my god-damned mind. Why would you be anywhere near the Sectopod that's been repeatedly deployed by the Ayys, and then stay when this fucking twenty foot tall metal dude with a laser cannon the size of a small car walks up and starts shooting? And then stay in within range of an EMP? I can maybe understand the first time they aren't expecting the MEC to deploy an EMP, but after Liveleak physically runs out of server space due to the uploaded clips of "XCOM'S NEW ROBOT KILLS FIVE PEOPLE WITH NEW ALIEN ENERGY PROJECTOR!!! :O :O :O (NOT CLICKBAIT) (GORE)" from the first five times, you'd think they'd learn to get the fuck out of the way. It isn't a big deal in the long run, considering half the population can die and you'll still get a "good" rating for civilians saved despite more dead than alive being present, but it's still annoying and kind of infuriating that they wouldn't run away at all.[/QUOTE] Better than in XCOM 2. "Don't mind me, I'm gonna take this nice heavy cover that would be perfect for your ranger to flank from."