[QUOTE=richard9311;51386175]Are SPARKS worth it late game? I had tried the mission very early on and became very frustrated at the waves and attrition it put my squad through; ending up on a wipe once we got to the roof.
Should I take the time, now that I'm near the end, to retry the mission?[/QUOTE]
It's not too late providing you can delay / setback the doomcounter.
Babysitting a spark with 5 colonels is not too difficulet either.
The biggest issue is how long it'll take to rank it up, you'll be prolonging the campaign long past the point where you should have won it and having done similar with PSI troopers on legendary, it gets boring.
I'm finished porting all of the machineguns from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered:
M60E4:
[t]http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/136626781371439165/974FCEBCEA5B3BE597502E800299FCC333311861/[/t][t]http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/136626781371439449/B13E9261D440A791D47E5B09F09985151DDE6F56/[/t][t]http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/136626781371439690/A8B3487CF3F17346A7EF9FD849FC184320F61834/[/t]
[url]http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=800500004[/url]
M249 SAW:
[t]http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/136626781371763072/C959464DBB97594C85B5E5537547E558BC43090F/[/t][t]http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/136626781371762866/B26F786120B77C7D4A5C151D62DC75C478312587/[/t][t]http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/136626781371762604/B81CABAB725365343F18619F8605B3FBEFB94882/[/t]
[url]http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=800984705[/url]
RPD:
[t]http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/136626947504667984/BD0A8C9A9791841FA5B01D5A2F14A452BF2A3102/?[/t][t]http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/136626947504668742/B209118ECC636CE11226D07C95B128795E3B07A1/[/t][t]http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/136626947504670144/BAD26DB18BCBE73FBB446FDD3FDFB6B1EFB6E0DC/[/t]
[url]http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=801601120[/url]
Next comes the M82 .50cal, R700, and the M40 sniper rifles. Also, don't mind the last screenshot on the RPD; it's from my unreleased More Skyboxes mod. It's Heavy Rain - Nightime with rain ambient SFX that I've uncovered from the EU leftovers.
As someone that has been trying and failing to beat Legendary Ironman for a while now I don't think Sparks are useful at any stage of the game
The SLG mission is pure bullshit and not even worth the effort at tier one weapons and armour, despite it appearing very early. After the last time I tried it and a bug caused Shen to not appear on the third stage, making it effectively impossible, I've unchecked the mission every time I start a new Legendary run.
Even if you build a proving ground and get the free Spark that way, it is so useless starting at level 0 and so difficult to level that you are shooting yourself in the foot by taking it.
Its starting accuracy is garbage and the rocket launcher is less useful than the pair, or triplet of grenades a Grenadier would carry in its place. This means that when you're nurturing it through early levels you constantly have to find ways to guarantee pod-wipes with only 5 guys instead of 6, because you can't rely on the Spark to do shit except destroy cover with the rocket once a mission. Imagine leaving a Sectoid alive and wounded that normally would pose little to no threat to anyone but can strip half the health off your Spark straight away for 5~ damage because its a sitting duck.
In the early game its suicide to try rush and get it. In the mid game there are far better things to invest in and you're putting developing high rank soldiers at risk. In the late game it is impractical and boring to develop.
[QUOTE=Dr.Critic;51407367]As someone that has been trying and failing to beat Legendary Ironman for a while now I don't think Sparks are useful at any stage of the game
The SLG mission is pure bullshit and not even worth the effort at tier one weapons and armour, despite it appearing very early. After the last time I tried it and a bug caused Shen to not appear on the third stage, making it effectively impossible, I've unchecked the mission every time I start a new Legendary run.
Even if you build a proving ground and get the free Spark that way, it is so useless starting at level 0 and so difficult to level that you are shooting yourself in the foot by taking it.
Its starting accuracy is garbage and the rocket launcher is less useful than the pair, or triplet of grenades a Grenadier would carry in its place. This means that when you're nurturing it through early levels you constantly have to find ways to guarantee pod-wipes with only 5 guys instead of 6, because you can't rely on the Spark to do shit except destroy cover with the rocket once a mission. Imagine leaving a Sectoid alive and wounded that normally would pose little to no threat to anyone but can strip half the health off your Spark straight away for 5~ damage because its a sitting duck.
In the early game its suicide to try rush and get it. In the mid game there are far better things to invest in and you're putting developing high rank soldiers at risk. In the late game it is impractical and boring to develop.[/QUOTE]
And it just goes to show that cutting people's arms and legs off and putting them in a robot is a far better decision. MECs were OP.
I think a lot of the problem with SPARKs is that they're only actually good if you get them early game. If you wait too long, then they get trapped in this perpetual cycle of being less useful than normal soldiers.
They're billed as a tanky sort of unit, but by the time you've got plated armor, the damage soaking abilities of lower-ranked SPARKs are completely outclassed by higher-ranked humans. So for SPARKs to keep up, it's imperative that you get access to them early on and rank them up as fast as possible.
Problem is, on higher difficulties, rushing into the towers mission as early as possible is almost a guaranteed squad wipe. But if you wait until you feel like you can comfortably beat the mission, it's already too late. Similarly with the Mechanized Warfare project, it'll be a while before you can research it without sacrificing something more important. So unless you rush them immediately, which is usually a bad idea, your SPARKs are gonna start out behind the curve, and will be playing catch up the whole game.
But by nature, SPARKs are much harder to rank up than humans. They can't take cover, which means they get shot a lot more. Which means they get put out of commission more often (and if you've got a staffed AWC, for [i]longer[/i] than other soldiers), which means they can't be brought on as many missions, which means they can't rank up as fast, which means they fall even [i]further[/i] behind the curve. And so on.
Unfortunately, a SPARK's only saving grace is it's abilities. A low-ranked SPARK is just a watered-down grenadier/specialist hybrid with more mobility, a point of armor, but gets shot easier.
I think these things might help make SPARKs more viable:
1.) Let SPARKs be leveled up outside of missions like psi operatives. Maybe at a cost. (They're robots. It doesn't make sense that field experience is what improves their abilities. It should be by tinkering, building on to them, upgrading their components)
2.) Make SPARKs heal faster than human soldiers. (Again, they're robots. Swapping parts should be easier than fixing internal organs)
3.) Give SPARKs a health boost, so humans don't eclipse SPARKs so easily with rank.
Thoughts?
What ever happened to the multiplayer? I remember it being fun but broken as hell most of the time. Was it ever fixed, is it active at all?
Dragged out my most recent campaign for shits and giggles but just finished it.
[IMG]http://i65.tinypic.com/v3zi3t.jpg[/IMG]
My 1st Heavy got guardian as her AWC perk, superior perception, superior scope, shredder and AP rounds, Superior Mags, Superior reload. I shit you not, 2 sectopods walked into her overwatch, almost single handedly killed both on her own except the 2nd one was left with like 5hp. Fucking hell she was absurd.
And what made it better, my second Grenadier rolled Guardian too, so i had 2 of the fuckers wreaking everything, i made the 2nd a 4 armour tank and skipped over shred but it was a waste of time, for the final 20 missions i played not a single enemy lived to get a shot off.
I had shredder on both my sniper and specialist too which made these 4 insanely OP together, armour was null and void. I even stopped taking the meme beacon in the end thats how effective these guys were. Fuck i'm gonna miss this play through, spaghetti arms and everything.
[IMG]http://i65.tinypic.com/25p5tlg.jpg[/IMG]
ok, REAL stupid question but considering lately I've been restarting campaigns due to new mods/mod updates that require me to restart, being dumb at certain points or situations where I can't do diddly squat. Has there been a mod to allow me to deal with mid to late game enemies during early state?
Saw this in LMAO pics, seems rather relevant :v
[url=https://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1537934&p=51411302&viewfull=1#post51411302][img]https://i.redd.it/8g6brlepuwyx.jpg[/img][/url]
[QUOTE=warmarine;51409482]ok, REAL stupid question but considering lately I've been restarting campaigns due to new mods/mod updates that require me to restart, being dumb at certain points or situations where I can't do diddly squat. Has there been a mod to allow me to deal with mid to late game enemies during early state?[/QUOTE]
You mean a mod that introduces late games enemies earlier in the campaign? or a mod that gives you access to late game items to deal with said enemies?
[QUOTE=Fr3ddi3;51412122]You mean a mod that introduces late games enemies earlier in the campaign? or a mod that gives you access to late game items to deal with said enemies?[/QUOTE]
The first one (Hense the "REAL stupid question")
having plasma weapons at the start would be stupid too, but in your favour :v:
Anywho, I don't think there is, i know someone was working on adding harder enemies for thew blacksite missions (so you wouldnt get the corpse/ tech), but i don't know if that ever came out.
So as i'm sure you're aware there's a steam sale on right now.
Xcom 2 is 50% off and all DLC is 33% off which is nice, but there's also something else that might be interesting to someone out there.
The pre-order exclusive Resistance Warrior pack became avalible to buy.
[IMG]https://downloads.2kgames.com/xcom2/blog_images/XCOM2_resistance_warrior_pack_thm.jpg[/IMG]
The dlcs are... kinda ass. Or atleast that's what I feel like. They don't suit the higher difficulties and on easier difficulties they're redundant. Honestly I just miss enemy within.
[QUOTE=Fr3ddi3;51418259]So as i'm sure you're away there's a steam sale on right now.
Xcom 2 is 50% off and all DLC is 33% off which is nice, but there's also something else that might be interesting to someone out there.
The pre-order exclusive Resistance Warrior pack became avalible to buy.
[IMG]https://downloads.2kgames.com/xcom2/blog_images/XCOM2_resistance_warrior_pack_thm.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE]
I do love me the Resistance Warrior armor skins. Too bad they are only for T1 for reasons.
In fact, T1 having the most customization options just peeves me in general.
[QUOTE=mageye;51420446]The dlcs are... kinda ass. Or atleast that's what I feel like. They don't suit the higher difficulties and on easier difficulties they're redundant. Honestly I just miss enemy within.[/QUOTE]
I havent bought any but reading / seeing the content of them, i'd say they were never intended to be on the same scale as Enemy Within, more like the Sling shot dlc with Zhang.
In the likely event there is an EW scale expansion in the works, I think it'll have something to do with the Speaker and possibly Vahlen and it'll just slot into the current story/epilogue.
Xcom 3 would take of from [I]that[/I] cutscene at the end.
Only DLC I bought was SLG because robots are cool and lots of mods require it. I think the cosmetics in Anarchy's Children are awful and alien leaders seem dumb. I really hope they aren't done with XCOM 2, because so far only mods have been providing an EW type of new experience.
[QUOTE=Destroyox;51423410]Only DLC I bought was SLG because robots are cool and lots of mods require it. I think the cosmetics in Anarchy's Children are awful and alien leaders seem dumb. I really hope they aren't done with XCOM 2, because so far only mods have been providing an EW type of new experience.[/QUOTE]
Its Firaxis, expansion packs are 100% going to happen. Plus i think some files were accidentally leaked months ago that showed proof of some pack being made.
[QUOTE=Destroyox;51423410]Only DLC I bought was SLG because robots are cool and lots of mods require it. I think the cosmetics in Anarchy's Children are awful and alien leaders seem dumb. I really hope they aren't done with XCOM 2, because so far only mods have been providing an EW type of new experience.[/QUOTE]
IMO Anarchy's Children is the definition of hit and miss. Some of the stuff is hideous, some of it is dumb but fun to put on your dudes, and some of it is great. The T3 Armor decos for example I straight-up prefer over vanilla.
So I finally fired up XCOM Enemy Unknown+Within after a long while of owning it from a humble bundle.
How do I access the Enemy Within stuff, or is it already active? When I first launched the game, a launcher window opened up with them both as an option, and clicking Enemy Within just relaunched the launcher.
So I clicked Enemy Unknown and got in-game, but it all looks largely the same as the vanilla game(at least comparing to the demo I played a ways back)
You access enemy within stuff by clicking Enemy Within on the startup launcher and just play the campaign there
Here's what I'd do with armor/weapons - just throw in another tier between T2 and T3, so T3 becomes T4 and very-near-endgame. Armor would start to look a lot more like what XCOM was pumping out end-game Enemy Unknown, while T4 then becomes the "top-tier" stuff.
Maybe jigger it so the T4 stuff you actually only make one piece of armor at a time of, so your whole squad doesn't turn into Mass Effect in one fell swoop.
Finally went for it and bought the Deluxe Edition.
2 questions- I've heard I should disable Alien Hunters the first time through- yay or nay?
Also, any mandantory mods? I've heard Stop Wasting My Time is basically needed.
[QUOTE=ChickenMan99;51423995]Finally went for it and bought the Deluxe Edition.
2 questions- I've heard I should disable Alien Hunters the first time through- yay or nay?
Also, any mandantory mods? I've heard Stop Wasting My Time is basically needed.[/QUOTE]
1. yes but be sure to disable the mod as if you don't play the mission, the rulers will appear during one of your mission
2. Play with the camera mods, Evac all, Overwatch all and any cosmetics mods you want. I'd usually say play with the LONG WAR mods but those are best after you beat the game once. Same with Better Advent mods and class mods
[QUOTE=ChickenMan99;51423995]Finally went for it and bought the Deluxe Edition.
2 questions- I've heard I should disable Alien Hunters the first time through- yay or nay?
Also, any mandantory mods? I've heard Stop Wasting My Time is basically needed.[/QUOTE]
Disable it, the enemies it introduces break the established game rules you'll be trying to learn.
As for mods, ignoring cosmetics,
[B]Non gameplay altering[/B]
[B]Stop Wasting my Time[/B] - you already know this one.
[B]Evac All [/B]- instead of evacing each soldier 1 by 1, this evacs everyone in the evac zone in one click.
[B]Free Camera rotation[/B] - allows you to zoom in / out and look across the map at your lesiure.
[B]Gotcha[/B] - No more guessing if you have line of sight on an enemy or an objective, or the enemy can see you, this [I]really[/I] should be in the game by default.
[B]Overwatch All / Others[/B] - Like evac all, if you want the remaning squad members to overwatch this is done in 1 click not 20.
[B]Mission time Remaining[/B] - Allows you to see how long a mission has before it expires.
[B]Numeric Health Display[/B] - You can count the health bars if you want, but some enemies have excess of 30hp and the pips are tiny, numbers are easier.
Basically all those allow you to make the most informed choices showing you information you need to know and speed up your game drastically. I use all of them and they work fine but i'd recomend checking the individual mods to see if there's any compatability issues.
[B]Minor gameplay altering mods[/B] IMO these fix game mechanics for the better.
[B]Stabilize me [/B]- If your medic starts bleeding out, you can move a soldier over to them and use the medics medkit to save their life, in vanillia if that happens you can't do anything for them except try and evac them.
[B]Panic Mod Always Hunker[/B] - If your soldiers panic in vanilla, they will run out of cover towards the enemy, sometimes shooting, occasionaly throwing a grenade (sometimes at your own squad) and then hunkering usually in a position that gets them killed, this makes sure they just hunker on the spot and nothing else (they still lose their next turn).
[B]Advanced Modular Weapons[/B] - This is actually already in the game, it's just tied to the 'Continent bonus' and has a random roll meaning you might not get it in your campaign, this ensures you get the ability but instead of it being a bonus, it's something you have to research / buy during the mid/late game, essentially it fits in where it would anyway.
Beyond those i wouldnt recommend anything else, not till you've played the game for what it is.
Well shit I just started my first playthrough and kept both DLC's activated. Would it be worth going back on an hour or two of gameplay to start a save with it off or just push through?
[QUOTE=Raidyr;51424514]Well shit I just started my first playthrough and kept both DLC's activated. Would it be worth going back on an hour or two of gameplay to start a save with it off or just push through?[/QUOTE]
Just push through. With Alien Rulers active, for example, you can control when rulers will start showing up.
[QUOTE=Senscith;51423620]The stock T3 armor in the game is an absolute mess. It looks more advanced and more alien than even the ayyy's most advanced gear. T1 was fantastic, in aesthetics and options. T2 was alright with its sort of bolted together look, with T2 weapons looking fantastic and the armor being disappointing for the distinct lack of choice compared to T1. T2 we got armor that sort of looked like a ramshackle version of Carapace armor from EU. T3 we've gone full armored spandex. It would have been much cooler to see something closer to EU with power armor with a bunch of extra alloy armor welded or somehow attached to the suit.
Instead we got T3. T3 gear is honestly my biggest turn off to the game. Thank Jake for mods.[/QUOTE]
Another annoying thing about T3 is that it has a permanent shiny metallic look to it, which makes camo look particularly awful.
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XCOM V5: Grazed shots still count as hits
